Addressing emotional well‐being
diabetes
CVD, DIABETES
Many participants valued “having someone to talk to” as a benefit of coaching. Some described having no‐one else to talk to about personal issues, whereas others described a coach as being different to talking to a doctor or health professional:
“…I find what is very useful is somebody to talk to…sharing about how I feel, to do with my health, to do with the coaching, where I can improve, what can I do next, that kind of thing…I find that with the doctors…it's not the same…” (P6, Female, Moderate CVD risk)Some participants needed to deal with issues effecting their emotional well‐being before being able to take steps toward improving their physical health and valued that the coaching facilitated this:
“…when she first came here…I was quite down…But during this coaching I mean, I'm more positive…I would think I will do this, I can do this…I can get my diabetes under control…” (P3, Female, Moderate CVD risk)For this participant, improved emotional well‐being, positivity, and a greater sense of self‐efficacy were all cited as facilitators of long‐term behavior change.