Abstract
Background: The pressing need to manage burgeoning chronic disease has led to the emergence of job roles such as health and wellness coaches (HWCs). As use of this title has increased dramatically, so has the need to ensure consistency, quality and safety for health and wellness coaching (HWC) provided in both practice and research. Clear and uniform role definitions and competencies are required to ensure appropriate scope of practice, to allow best practices to emerge, and to support the implementation of well-designed, large scale studies to accumulate a rigorous evidence base. Since the nascent field is replete with heterogeneity in terms of role delineations and competencies, a collaborative volunteer non-profit organization, the National Consortium for Credentialing Health and Wellness Coaches (NCCHWC), has been built over the past six years to support professionalization of the field. Methods: In 2014, a professionally led Job Task Analysis (JTA) was conducted with 15 carefully selected subject matter experts (SMEs) with diverse education and professional backgrounds who were practicing HWC in a wide variety of settings. After establishing a thorough list of specific tasks employed during HWC, the expert panel discussed the knowledge and skills necessary to competently perform the tasks. Subsequently, a large validation survey assessed the relative importance and frequency of each identified job task in conducting HWC. Results: The JTA identified 21 job tasks as essential to HWC. In the subsequent validation survey, 4026 practicing health and wellness coaches were invited to rate each of the 21 job tasks in terms of their importance and frequency. A response rate of 25.6 % provided a diverse sample (n = 1031) in terms of background, and represented a wide variety of training programs from academia, industry, the private sector and associations. Per best practices, the subset of practicing HWCs (n = 885) provided importance and frequency ratings to be used to calculate task and domain weights that can serve as a foundation for a NCCHWC national certification examination. Conclusions: This JTA provides a significant step forward in the building of a clear and consistent definition of HWC that will allow for uniform practice standards and enable more stringent methodology to evaluate this promising approach within evidence-based medicine.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 205 |
| Journal | BMC Health Services Research |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 27 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Disclosures: Ruth Wolever, PhD; Associate Professor, Dept. of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Vanderbilt Schools of Medicine & Nursing; Director of Vanderbilt Health Coaching, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine; At the time of submission and prior to 9/1/15: Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine; Director of Research, Duke Integrative Medicine; Ruth serves as the Chief Scientific Advisor to eMindful, Inc., holds a contract with Samueli Institute and grants from the US Air Force, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and Nurtur for research that entails health coaching. Additional funding relevant to health coaching in the three years prior to the submission of this paper include grants from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (now National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health), the Bravewell Philanthropic Collaborative, the Duke Center for Personalized and Precision Medicine and Glaxo Smith Kline. Meg Jordan, PhD, RN; Department Chair and Professor, Integrative Health Studies California Institute of Integral Studies; mjordan@ciis.edu Disclosures: Meg is funded by a grant from Aetna Foundation for health coaching research, chairs a graduate degree in integrative health and health coaching at California Institute of Integral Studies, and is on the Advisory Board of Mevident, a corporate wellness program. Speaking fees over the past three years were provided by the Integrative Healthcare Symposium and the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. Karen L. Lawson, MD, ABIHM, Assistant Professor & Director of Integrative Health Coaching, University of Minnesota, Center for Spirituality and Healing; lawsonk@umn.edu Disclosures: Karen directs a graduate health coaching degree program at University of Minnesota, has a small contract from Samueli, and has no outside grant support. Speaking fees over the past three years were provided by Blake schools in Hopkins, MN; the Symposium of Integrative Medicine Professionals in the Land of Enchantment (SIMPLE) at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM); a preconference workshop at the American Holistic Medical Association (Minneapolis, MN); the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee); the NY Times ‘Health for Tomorrow—Medicine, Research, Policy, Wellness’ conference (San Francisco, CA); Allina’s Cardiovascular Nursing Conference (Edina, MN); GlaxoSmithKline at the American Health Insurance Plans meeting (Salt Lake City, UT); and Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives; Harvard and Culinary Institute of America (Napa, CA). Margaret Moore, MBA, Chairman & CEO, Wellcoaches Corporation; Co-Director, Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital, Faculty member of Harvard University Extension School; margaret@wellcoaches.com Disclosures: Margaret is Founder and CEO of Wellcoaches Corporation, consultant to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, Curves/ Jenny Craig and has a small contract from Samueli. Speaking fees over the past three years were provided by Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi, Harvard School of Public Health Healthy Kitchens Healthy Lives Conference, the Maryland Academy of Advanced Practice Clinicians, Mather Lifeways, Harvard Publishing Conference (Harvard Medical School), German Coaching Congress (Basel), New England Region Grant Managers, Maine Association of Diabetes Educators, American College of Preventive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Medical Fitness Association, Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC), Wellness Integration & Engagement Conference, Association of Career Professionals, National Health Service (UK) Institute for Innovation and Improvement, The Conference Board, Inc., American College of Sports Medicine, Brookhaven Senior Living, University of Delaware, American Journal of Health Promotion, General Practice Psychotherapy Association (Ontario, Canada), Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Carevolution, Brazil, Greater Pittsburgh Psychological Association, Obesity Medicine (Harvard Medical School), WELCOA Wellness Council of Wisconsin, Diabetes Educators of Massachusetts, MDVIP (concierge primary care), Empresas Promondo (corporate health promotion company in Chile), Medical Fitness Association, Ithaca College, Cayuga Medical Center (Ithaca), American Association for Thoracic Surgery, International Coach Federation’s Coaching Science Conference, Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, Joslin Diabetes Center,WHMU Medical Center (White House), International Coach Federation Global Conference, Sweden, DBC Pri-Med, LLC, American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Medical Fitness Association, Harvard/MIT Learning and the Brain Conference, Israeli Coaching Congress, and the California University of Pennsylvania.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s).