Integrative Health and Wellness Coaches and Patient Self-Efficacy and Empowerment
Professionally trained, master’s level integrative health and wellness coaches partner with patients in their healthcare journey. Integrative health and wellness coaching can significantly increase the wellness of individuals and improve healthy lifestyle behaviors (Altunkurek & Bebis, 2019; National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, 2020). As this role and field expands, additional research is needed to contribute to the understanding of the integrative health and wellness coach’s role and impact when working with a patient. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore empowerment and the impact of an integrative health and wellness coach on their patient’s development of self-efficacy and how self-efficacy improves health-related decisions. Through a series of interviews with integrative health and wellness coaches, three superordinate themes and two subthemes emerged related to: patients working with integrative health and wellness coaches, self-efficacy, and empowerment. Recommendations and implementation strategies were then discussed with a focus of better incorporating integrative health and wellness coaches into healthcare systems to provide optimal patient care. Keywords: Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching, Integrative Health and Wellness, Empowerment, Self-efficacy, Integrative Healthcare
Empowerment, Health-Related Decisions, Integrative Health And Wellness, Integrative Health And Wellness Coaching, Integrative Healthcare, Self-Efficacy
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