Introduction
- Choosing a healthy lifestyle promotes an individual’s chances of good health
- An individual’s lifestyle behaviour is influenced by values and beliefs
- Individuals find it hard to initiate and difficult to maintain changes to their lifestyle behaviour(s)
- Individuals considering change may feel frightened or anxious
- If healthcare professionals promote and support lifestyle behaviour change, their intervention may have a positive effect upon the success of the individual’s attempt to make a change
- In order to support lifestyle change, health professionals need to understand the psychological processes associated with health beliefs and behaviour change
- Actions include delivering a brief intervention and supporting individuals to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realisitc, Timed) goals, if appropriate
Page last reviewed: 10 Oct 2021
