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Health coaching entails employing trained professionals to help employees adopt
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Many Americans suffer from chronic diseases as the result of unhealthy

lifestyle choices. Consequently, positiv e behav ioral changes are crucial to

improv ing health outcomes and prev enting potential illness. Howev er, more

often than not, doctor-patient relationships are directive, where patients tend

to be less inv olv ed in deciding what's best for their health. A coach-client

relationship, on the other hand, is collaborative and self-directed. Clients

take charge of their life and, therefore, feel a stronger sense of ownership as

well as a greater responsibility to follow through with their actions.

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expensive, and can al so be ineffective and sometimes inaccurate. Al so, using

such metrics to single out employees typically leads to low compliance due to the

lack of personal interest and awareness of the service.

What do coaches do when people don't cooperate? They spend their time trying

to reach out to people and leaving voicemails instead of being able to help. If

you are paying for the service, you'd probably prefer not to waste your dollars on

coaches' hours spent talking to employees' voicemails.

6
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Because of its capability to capture information in real time, technology has the
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assistance. This "upgrade" translates directly to success. In fact, 86% of people

who received health coaching and tracked their health with a device were

motivated to be active, according to Cigna. If you'd like to learn more about the

positive results of this study, check out our blog post on the topic.

10
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what their c lients are already doing and make improvements from there. >
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six to ten apps, only a third of what's on their phone. Take out messaging and _J
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Bottom line: it's difficult to introduce new apps to users nowadays.

What can health coaches do about it? The answer is NOT designing another

proprietary application and forcing it onto people's phones; we don't need to

reinvent the wheel. tv1yFitnessPal boasts more than 80 million registered users,

while Runtastic is an activity hub for 100 million people. This user base is superior

compared to the number of users any proprietary system can acquire.

12
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Timetables work differently based on company culture. For example, our clients :a:
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employees can get because it is difficult to determine how fast the changes will ::,
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take place for each person. While s ome s tudies s how that making changes
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Health coaching is often bes t delivered ons ite through face-to-face meetings.

This in-pers on s etting facilitates the formation of a relations hip between the

coach and employee. For s ituations where it is not pos s ible, companies can look

at remote coaching alternatives s uch as telecoaching or other technology­

as s is ted forms . Telecoaching involves a convers ation with the coach over the

phone. Technology-as s is ted coaching goes further; coaches employ texting,

video chat, and other applications and devices to as s is t employees in their

wellness journey. This is where the consumer wellness technology part plays in.

15
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wellbeing. Still skeptical? Check out the statistics: <(
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A study by the CDC on a telephonic health coaching program showed: �

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Coaching participants saved $586 (or ll.3o/o) in medical costs, according to a
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A NHS review on the empirical evidence of health coaching revealed:

- 75% of randomized trials and 92o/o of other studies showed that

health coaching supports people's motivation to take care of

themselves and improve their confidence in the ability to lead a

healthier lifestyle

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coaches successfully help people adopt healthy behaviors.

Commonly cited benefits are increased physical activity, healthier

eating, and smoking reduction

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3. Always Measure
a. Wh y tv1easure?

Th ere are many reasons wh y employers sh ould determine goals and measuring

meth ods for h ealth coach ing programs. In Benefits tv1agazine, Dr. Jessica

Grossmier pointed out some notable examples, and th e former president of

WELCOA, Dr. David Huntcutt, dedicated a whole Absolute Advantage issue to

address the topic. Below are some of the main reasons why you should measure.

21
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Even a personality clash can hinder an employee's progress. If your employees w
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targeting participants and/ or finding coaches better-suited for your program.

Satisfaction
Satisfaction is a close cousin of participation because it shows how m uch people

like their coaches and how m uch progress they are m aking. Som e of the factors

that play into participation satisfaction are:

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Productivity Questionnaires

As mentioned above, productivity measurements are relatively new. Regardless,

it is still helpful for the evaluation of the program.

29
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