Diabetic Diet Guides

Behavioral researchers at MicroMass Communications have identified a metabolic mindset™ that could be the key to helping physicians, nurses and other healthcare educators successfully influence patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol to adopt healthier lifestyle changes such as losing weight, eating better, getting more exercise, and giving up cigarettes.

Jessica Brueggeman, director of behavioral sciences at MicroMass, says the research has important health and economic implications, especially in the nation’s escalating battle against obesity.

“Roughly a third of all Americans are obese, and half of this population lives with one or more metabolic diseases caused or made worse by self-destructive lifestyle behaviors,” she notes. “A tool for successfully changing these behaviors could lead to a significant improvement in the nation’s health and a great reduction in cost.”

The American Medical Association estimates that $575 billion is spent annually on the treatment of diseases or disabilities resulting from unhealthy, potentially changeable behaviors.

The MicroMass study reveals that while disease symptoms and treatment vary widely among individuals with metabolic conditions, there are remarkable similarities in patients’ motivations to change behavior and the barriers that stand in their way. MicroMass calls this common ground the metabolic mindset and believes it offers a vital key to successfully motivating people to make difficult behavior changes.

“We uncovered four distinct patient profiles that are the same regardless of which metabolic disease is being treated,” Brueggeman notes. “This makes it possible to create education programs, insurance-based incentives and other communications that work across metabolic disease states and address patients’ true motivations and obstacles to change.”

The four types of metabolic patients, their percentage of the total study population, and suggested ways of motivating each:

Cruise Control (19 percent)

These patients follow their doctors’ orders and manage their conditions pretty well, but may not understand the seriousness of their disease or the value of treating it by changes in behavior. This makes them vulnerable to backsliding. Strong and repeated reinforcement is a must, using self-assessment tools that concretely demonstrate the benefits of behavior change.

Taking Charge (30 percent)

These patients know the risks of unhealthy behavior and actively avoid them. They don’t require intense investment or intervention by their physicians. Healthcare providers should engage these patients as advocates and invite them to share their expertise with other patients.

Disengaged (20 percent)

This group is highly susceptible to setbacks because they feel that improving their condition is beyond their control. Healthcare providers should applaud each small success with these patients and allow them to choose which behaviors to work on, one at a time. They should also plan for relapses.

Overwhelmed (31 percent)

These patients want to change but don’t know how to start. It’s important to raise their self-confidence by doling out information in easy-to-digest bites, creating step-by-step action plans focused on small goals, and acknowledging their successes.

Brueggeman sees great potential benefit in adding a behavioral dimension to the treatment of patients with metabolic diseases. “Patients would gain better control over their health, physicians would see better outcomes, managed care companies would have fewer claims, public health professionals would see a turnaround in unhealthy trends, and even for-profit weight loss and smoking cessation programs would get new insights into improving their rates of success.”

About the Study

The MicroMass metabolic mindset study represents a continuation of the company’s investment in informing the national healthcare debate. For this analysis, MicroMass commissioned an online survey of more than 1,500 respondents from a representative demographic sample of the U.S. population. Each respondent had at least one metabolic condition. The results were then referenced against Simmons’ national database to create more complete profiles.

Source: MicroMass Communications, Inc