Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Implementation of the BETTER Women Peer Health Coaching Program

Summary

The Building on Existing Tools To improvE cancer and chronic disease pRevention and screening in primary care (BETTER) Program allows patients in primary care to have a dedicated visit with a prevention practitioner to discuss chronic disease prevention and cancer screening. A prevention practitioner is a health professional, working in primary care, who has received additional training to discuss chronic disease prevention and screening and develop health goals with patients through shared decision-making. Previous studies have shown that this approach increases the number of prevention and screening actions completed by program participants. However, maintenance of health behaviour changes is difficult without on-going support. There is also some evidence that peer-delivered coaching can improve health outcomes in community settings. As such, the BETTER Women program extends the BETTER program by focusing on 40 to 68-year-old women and providing time-limited support for health behaviour change through peer health coaches. Coaches are volunteers - trained in techniques to support health behaviour change - who support women to achieve their health goals over a 6-month period. In this study, the investigators will explore: (i) whether patients who participate in health coaching after a prevention visit are more likely to increase the number of prevention and screening actions that they complete after six months, compared to women who participate in a prevention visit but do not get health coaching; (ii) whether the intervention effects endure six months after the intervention ends; and (iii) the implementation of the program to learn about factors that affect various aspects of the success and sustainability of the program.

Conditions

• Chronic Disease
• Cancer

Interventions

OTHER

Prevention Visit

Patients will have a one-on-one, approximately one-hour long visit with a specially trained Prevention Practitioner. During this visit, they will discuss the patient's health history, their risks for developing chronic diseases, including cancer, and possible steps they can take to reduce those risks. The Prevention Practitioner will also assist the patient to develop and articulate specific goals the patient would like to work on to reduce their risk of chronic diseases.

BEHAVIORAL

Peer health coaching

Patients will be invited to register with the software platform used to facilitate peer health coaching. Once they have registered, they will be matched to a peer health coach who will connect with the patient to initiate the process. The coach will work collaboratively with the patient to help her follow through on a step-wise, personalized plan to achieve health goals that were developed with their prevention practitioner. The coach's approach will be informed by principles of brief action planning and motivational interviewing. Coaches will also provide social support, help to navigate to relevant information and community resources, and advise about options for self-monitoring. Coaching will occur over 12-16 sessions via phone calls, text messages, video calls and/or in-person meetings as desired/convenient and in accordance with local public health guidelines.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Cancer Society (CCS)

  collaborator OTHER

• Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Women's College Hospital Foundation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Women's College Hospital Family Practice Health Centre

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Barrie and Community Family Health Team

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University Health Network, Toronto

  collaborator OTHER

• Applied Health Research Centre

  collaborator OTHER

• Summerville Family Health Team

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Women's College Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Noah M Ivers, MD, PhD · Women's College Hospital

• Aisha Lofters, MD, PhD · Women's College Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Max Age

68 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-06-14

Primary Completion

2025-04-30

Completion

2025-04-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations