Skills and Methods for Supporting Lifestyle Change

Question 1

Within motivational interviewing it is best to follow the _____ approach to giving advice.

Answer 1

Elicit - Provide - Elicit

In order to use this approach, the client specifically requests input and before providing input the health coach asks permission. For example, a client says she would like to “eat better” and asks for advice on how to achieve this. First, the health coach would ask an open-ended question such as “what does eating better look like to you”, provide a summary of the answer the client gives, and then ask for permission to share more resources or guidelines.

Question 2

Define

The anticipatory principle

Answer 2

A principle that emphasizes that positive images are more likely to inspire positive action

Question 3

True or False

People who identify as perfectionists often feel like failures.

Answer 3

True.

Humans are rarely perfect. Working with perfectionists is a difficult task because most perfectionists identify themselves as failures and believe that self-care is selfish and bad because they could be doing another task.

Question 4

What are some goal moderators that affect a person’s behavior?

Answer 4

• Goal commitment
• Goal importance
• Self-efficacy
• Feedback
• Task complexity

Question 5

What is an activating event in the A-B-C-D-E method?

Answer 5

The event or situation that is associated with unproductive thinking.

For example, skipping a workout session.

Question 6

What are some of the most common types of cognitive distortions?

Answer 6

• Jumping to conclusions
• Magnification
• Overgeneralizing
• Labeling
• All or nothing thinking
• Personalization and blame

Question 7

Define

Cognitive restructuring

Answer 7

The process by which people attempt to replace unproductive thinking with more helpful thoughts.

Question 8

Define

The awareness principle

Answer 8

A principle that states that an individual needs to be conscious of underlying assumptions.

Question 9

How would you make the goal “I want to lose weight” time-bound?

Answer 9

I want to lose weight by my vacation in August.

In order to make a goal time-bound, it needs to have a set ‘due date’ in which the goal should be completed.

Question 10

Define

Simple reflection

Answer 10

Restatements of what the client has said but in a simpler version.

For example, your client states that she doesn’t work out because gyms make her feel unwelcomed and she doesn’t know what to do or where to even begin, a simple reflection would be ‘you do not exercise because gyms make you uncomfortable.’

Question 11

Define

The poetic principle

Answer 11

A principle that emphasizes that people can choose what they will work on and develop in their lives.

Question 12

Define

The narrative principle

Answer 12

A principle that emphasizes that people make up stories about their lives to help determine future thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Question 13

Open-ended questions typically begin with what words?

Answer 13

How or What

Question 14

What is a righting reflex?

Answer 14

The desire to fix what seems to be wrong with something in an effort to set the client on a better path.

Question 15

What is disputing in the negative thinking in the A-B-C-D-E method?

Answer 15

Trying to replace negative thoughts with more productive ones by reminding themselves that one event is not relevant to the present.

Question 16

Why are open-ended questions more effective than closed-ended questions?

Answer 16

Open-ended questions invite clients to share more information, tell their story and paint a broader picture. They also allow important information to be shared.

Question 17

What are the two main types of goals?

Answer 17

Process and Product

Process goals refer to goals that happen in stages and are more open-ended such as becoming more healthy or losing weight. Product goals refer to obtaining one specific thing, such as winning a gold medal in an event or fitting into a wedding dress.

Question 18

Define

Motivational Interviewing

Answer 18

A directive, client-centered approach to coaching in order to elicit behavior change by helping clients explore and resolve ambivalence.

Question 19

What is a consequence in the A-B-C-D-E method?

Answer 19

Both emotional and behavioral consequences brought on because of the activating event.

For example, feeling frustrated in one’s self for not sticking to a workout regimen.

Question 20

How would you make the goal “I want to lose weight” measurable?

Answer 20

• I want to lose 10% body fat
• I want to lose 30 pounds

Measurable refers to making a goal quantifiable.

Question 21

Motivational interviewing differs from a traditional directing style of coaching by:

Answer 21

Encouraging, supporting, and assisting the client in the process of change instead of the professional taking charge in the conversation and advising a client on what to do and how to do it.

Question 22

Define

Straight reflection

Answer 22

A simple or complex reflection in response to a client’s sustain talk.

Sustain talk are statements that show a desire to maintain the status quo.

Question 23

How would you make the goal “I want to lose weight” attainable?

Answer 23

• I want to lose 1 pound every week.
• I want to lose one dress size in two weeks.

Attainable refers to making goals challenging, but not impossible.

Question 24

Define

Ambivalence

Answer 24

The state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Question 25

Define

Amplified reaction

Answer 25

Overstated reflections that challenge a client to think more about a statement he or she previously made.

Question 26

Define

The positive principle

Answer 26

A principle that emphasizes the importance of keeping a positive perspective throughout the coaching process

Question 27

What is a belief in the A-B-C-D-E method?

Answer 27

A belief associated with the event that may have helped trigger the event in the first place.

For example, not exercising today because you haven’t exercised the rest of the week so what is the point.

Question 28

Define

Cognitive distortions

Answer 28

Irrational and usually harmful thought patterns that interfere with a person’s wellbeing.

Question 29

What are the four key elements that make up the spirit of motivational interviewing?

Answer 29

1. Collaboration
2. Acceptance
3. Compassion
4. Evocation

Question 30

What are affirmations?

Answer 30

Statements that reinforce the client’s strengths, intentions, accomplishments, and efforts.

Health coaches can use affirmations to build self-efficacy and confidence as well as indicate progress toward the desired lifestyle change in their clients.

Question 31

What are the most basic principles in appreciative inquiry?

Answer 31

• The positive principle
• The constructionist principle
• The narrative principle
• The simultaneity principle
• The poetic principle
• The anticipatory principle
• The enactment principle
• The free-choice principle
• The awareness principle

Question 32

What does the A-B-C-D-E method for countering automatic negative thoughts stand for?

Answer 32

A - Activating event

B - Beliefs

C - Consequences

D - Disputing the negative thinking

E - Effect

Question 33

Define

Reflective Listening

Answer 33

A combination of verbal and nonverbal responses to indicate interest and understanding. Reflective listening is also used as a way to encourage the speaker to continue.

Reflective listening is also called active listening.

Question 34

Define

The simultaneity principle

Answer 34

A principle that emphasizes that asking a question can begin the change process

Question 35

What do SMART goals stand for?

Answer 35

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Relevant

T - Time-bound

Question 36

Define

Cognitive Behavioral Coaching

Answer 36

Coaching approach that uses a guided discovery method to help individuals identify, examine, challenge, and change unproductive thoughts and feelings that are interfering with healthy behavior change.

Question 37

What are the four processes of Motivational Interviewing?

Answer 37

1. Engaging
2. Focusing
3. Evoking
4. Planning

Question 38

Affirmations help build what kind of motivation?

Answer 38

Autonomous Motivation.

Question 39

Define

The free choice principle

Answer 39

A principle that echoes the self-determination theory that states that people will make a decision based on their own beliefs and free will and will not be tempted by outside factors.

Question 40

Define

The constructionist principle

Answer 40

A principle that emphasizes that reality is subjective and created on an individual basis

Question 41

What is a more effective way of working with a client - motivational Interviewing or directing style using the righting reflex?

Answer 41

Motivational Interviewing

Often times the righting reflex is ineffective at eliciting a long-term change and may be counterproductive with some clients who see the advantages and disadvantages of changing. The righting reflex is best suited for clients who only see the positives in changing while motivational interviewing is helpful for all client types.

Question 42

Define

Complex reflection

Answer 42

A guess at the underlying meaning of what your client has said.

Question 43

What does the GROW model stand for?

Answer 43

G - Goal

R - Reality

O - Options

W - Will

Question 44

What are the different forms of reflective statements?

Answer 44

• Simple reflections
• Complex reflections
• Straight reflections
• Amplified reflections
• Double-sided reflections

Question 45

Health coaches can inspire clients to generate positive emotions and build their strengths by:

Answer 45

• Ensuring a positive tone
• Asking clients to identify their character strengths
• Uncovering client values
• Noting progress towards goals

Question 46

What are the four core skills of motivational interviewing?

Answer 46

1. Open-ended questions
2. Affirmations
3. Reflective listening
4. Summarizing

Question 47

Define

The enactment principle

Answer 47

This principle mirrors self-perception theory which states a person develops attitudes by observing their behavior and concluding what attitude might have caused it.

Question 48

Goals affect performance or inspire change through what four primary mechanisms?

Answer 48

• Directed attention
• Mobilized effort
• Persistence
• Strategy

Question 49

Skilled use of open-ended questions accomplishes what goals all at once?

Answer 49

• Breaks the ice
• Builds rapport
• Provides useful information
• Nurtures autonomous motivation
• Can lead to the development of goals and plans that are more relevant and realistic for the client

Question 50

What are some of the ways you can respond to a client’s answers?

Answer 50

• Encouraging - “I see” , “that is interesting” , nodding, and smiling
• Paraphrasing - restating what the client has said briefly
• Reflecting emotional content - “that must have been upsetting”, “That sounds like fun”

Question 51

Define

Irrational belief

Answer 51

An unreasonable concept that is often acquired from family or culture.

An irrational belief is something that the client assumes to be true but is actually not possible in daily life. For example, striving for perfection.