Date of Award

8-2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences

First Advisor

Farzaneh Daghigh, PhD

Second Advisor

Jeffrey E Harris, DrPH, MPH, RD, LDN

Third Advisor

Ruth D Thornton, PhD

Abstract

The Nutri One-on-One Program's aim was to positively modify participants' nutritional habits and lifestyles through a brief one-on-one health coaching session, which was conducted within a primary healthcare setting at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine's Clinics. It is documented that 70% of deaths in the U.S. result from complications secondary to chronic diseases of metabolic syndrome. The participants were selected by physicians and classified as suffering from one or more of the five indicators of metabolic syndrome: abdominal obesity, elevated serum triglycerides, low HDL-cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and insulin resistance. Evidence shows that health coaching positively assists individuals in modifying their lifestyle to a healthier one to prevent and control disease. Health coaching is most effective when utilizing the concept of one-on-one motivational interviewing and interactions. Therefore, this model was adopted in order to allow for tailored nutritional education and behavioral goal setting leading to individual success. The collected subject health information allowed for a specifically tailored nutritional education lesson to be distributed in order to assist the participant in setting a primary health goal and three Health Actions to achieve the Health Goal. The effects of Nutri One-on-One have been analyzed through participant's goal setting, self-reported achievement score, patient and physician satisfaction surveys, nutritional educational assessment, and a follow-up telephone call. The 74 participants, 48 female and 26 male, were initially interviewed to gain insight into their personal daily nutritional habits and nutritional history. Personalized one-on-one nutritional health coaching through the Nutri One-on-One program proved to be successful, as 98% of the participants reported that their health goals were still a priority at the one-month follow-up, and the subjects had implemented their three health actions at 75%. The tailored education for healthy nutritional living and behavior change continued to create positive behavior modifications within subjects and 93% of the study population reported that even the one time intervention was an asset to their health and overall primary healthcare visit and hoped to have similar interaction in their future visits.

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