Abstract
Understanding that patients significantly influence their own health has spurred interest in discovering what makes patient education and counseling effective. The number of studies has grown rapidly, and the publication rate increased geometrically during the 1970s.1–3 Research in areas such as smoking cessation, weight control, self-care, and relapse prevention has served to sustain this trajectory of growth in the literature.4–7
What health outcome can a physician or other caregiver realistically expect when patients are handed written material or verbally counseled to alter their behavior? Common topics for such counseling include smoking cessation, alcohol intake, accident prevention, and dietary modification. Some have been addressed specifically elsewhere in this book. But in general, health promotion and education have suffered from an imbalance between rhetoric and proven efficacy. The medium is not the message. The following discussion distills from the scientific evidence several characteristics that can improve the efficacy of patient education in clinical practice. It also reveals how much good research remains to be done in testing and increasing the effectiveness of health education.
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Mullen, P.D., Green, L.W. (1990). Educating and Counseling for Prevention: From Theory and Research to Principles. In: Goldbloom, R.B., Lawrence, R.S. (eds) Preventing Disease. Frontiers of Primary Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3280-3_48
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3280-3_48
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