Teachable moments: potential for behaviour change among people with Type 2 diabetes and their relatives

Abstract

Background: There are naturally occurring health events, such as illness diagnosis, that motivate people to spontaneously adopt healthy behaviours. Such events are often re-ferred to as teachable moments. They have the potential to increase the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions, when people are already motivated to change behaviour. However, it is unclear what makes illness diagnosis a teachable moment for some people but not for others. This project aims to identify the factors determining whether and for whom diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is a teachable moment, and to explore the components of a potential intervention to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes among high-risk groups. Method: A mixed-methods design, divided into two studies, was employed. The first study was a qualitative study and used semi-structured interviews (n=10 patients and n=13 relatives). It explored the changes occurring in people after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in oneself or a family member in an effort to identify what factors make diagnosis a teachable moment. The study also explored people’s suggestions for a potential diabetes prevention intervention. The second study was a quantitative study and used postal questionnaires (n=85 patients and n=55 relatives). It investigated the relationship between potential teachable moment factors and primary outcomes (physical activity, diet, interest in diabe-tes-related information and education course). Results: This mixed-methods study suggests that the factors that may make diagnosis of type 2 diabetes a teachable moment for patients are outcome expectancy, perceived con-trol, severity, self-concept or social role, gender and time since diagnosis; and for relatives: perceived risk, severity, self-concept or social role, and gender. Although there was lack of complete alignment in factors identified through different methods, this study advances understanding of when interventions may be more (or less) successful. The study makes recommendations for potential interventions to capitalise on the teachable moment crite-ria. Conclusion: The current project highlights the complexity of teachable moment criteria and their relationship with behaviour change. Future research is required to further uncov-er these criteria and their utility for health promotion.