Our current healthcare system is not designed to help people manage the lifelong journey of developing and sustaining health-related behavior. The learner needs a lot of support to get from point A (where they currently are) to point B (where they want to be). Life events often initiate a desire for adults to learn (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). However, the journey will be full of ups, downs and wrong turns. This experience is mentally and emotionally taxing. As a health educator, you need to understand the core concepts aimed at changing attitudes, beliefs, self-efficacy, perception of barriers and knowledge or skills (Contento, 2016). When these concepts are applied with consideration for adult learner characteristics, the potential for transformative learning exists (Kasworm, Rose & Ross-Gordon, 2010).
The Core Concepts Defined
Motivation is a coaching mechanism to enable sustained change (Moore, Jackson & Tschannen-Moran, 2016). Sustainability is the key component of true behavior change.
Problem-solving is the act of brainstorming solutions to make a change for the better (Davis & Arend, 2013). Sometimes the decisions we make do not lead us toward our goal. Without the ability to problem solve, we will become stuck. A willingness to persevere in the problem-solving cycle requires motivation.
Experiential learning immerses all of our senses in the process of applying our problem-solving strategy (Davis & Arend, 2013). Combined with positive emotions, we enhance cognitive processing and memory - two aspects of learning (Tyng, Amin, Saad & Malik, 2017). Only through experience and reflection can we engage in the iterative process of health behavior changes.
Nutrition education will be most effective when the appropriate theory is applied to the instructional design (Contento, 2016) or coaching session. This section serves to introduce you to some commonly used motivation theories specifically aimed at addressing attitudes, beliefs, and self-efficacy. They promote intrinsic, rather than extrinsic motivation which improves the likelihood of sustained change (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 2017).
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Self-Determination Theory
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Goal Setting & Social Cognitive Theories
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Theory of Planned Behavior
Eventually, health educators will encounter adults in the contemplation stage of change - they are making decisions about their best course of action. They make decisions through information gathering and processing of values and feelings.
As adults move into the preparation stage of change, they prepare to take action. This is when adults become acutely aware of a gap between their current state and their goal state. This is known as the problem space (Davis & Arend, 2013). Without effective PROBLEM-SOLVING skills to overcome their barriers, a health goal will never be reached and sustained. Glanz, Rimer & Viswanath (2008) note, the role of health education is to help close this gap. In this section, you will learn strategies for problem-solving.
Self-efficacy is a strong predictor of whether or not the learner will be able to successfully implement behavior change. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING provides the learner with an environment to improve problem-solving skills, build confidence and thus, self-efficacy (Lavallee & Litchfield, 2019).
To clarify, experiential learning results in an expansion of knowledge. What can transpire following one or more experiences is what Mezirow described as TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING. This requires experiences to be combined with critical reflection of past assumptions which are then replaced with more accurate and inclusive perspectives (Kaworm, Rose & Ross-Gordon, 2010). As the name implies, this type of learning transforms people, they will never return to the way they were.
