Abstract
Objective: We conducted a written questionnaire survey concerning health guidance skills in order to determine the necessary requirements for supporting lifestyle modification.
Methods: The subjects were 842 (351 doctors, 305 public health nurses, 186 registered dietitians) of 982 attendees of the 2014 Skill Enhancement Workshop for Ningen Dock Health Support Advisors from whom valid responses to a written questionnaire concerning skill proficiency levels of health support advisors were obtained. Using the questionnaire, attendees rated their proficiency levels at the beginning of the workshop according to 4 grades. The results were analyzed by proficiency level for individual items for the respondents overall and by occupational category. For some public health nurses, results were also analyzed by number of years of experience in health guidance.
Results: Overall, proficiency levels were high for items concerning individual support but low for items concerning group support. Scores for items relating to specific support for reducing alcohol consumption and smoking cessation based on the AUDIT and the ABC/ABR approach were low. While scores for proficiency in exercise risk management were high for doctors, those for public health nurses and registered dietitians were low. Scores for items relating to the specific health guidance system were high for public health nurses and registered dietitians. Scores for diet-related items were high for registered dietitians but low for doctors and public health nurses. For public health nurses with many years of experience in health guidance, scores were significantly higher for items regarding the specific health guidance system and its evaluations, items regarding physical activity and those regarding an association between drinking and smoking and lifestyle-related diseases.
Conclusion: In order to raise the effectiveness of health guidance, workshop content should be more focused on skills with low proficiency levels and there should be greater cooperation among the various health professionals involved so that they can complement each other's skills.
