The description and initial evaluation of an intensive live-in program in risk reduction

Relationship of health locus of control to lifestyle change programs

The relationship of health locus of control (HLC) scores to changes in physical parameters of 339 participants in a lifestyle change program was examined. Physical parameters included weight, blood pressure, low density lipoproteins, triglycerides, and the ratio between cholesterol and high density lipoproteins. Data were collected on admission and on completion of the 24-day residential program, and at a 6-month followup. There were significant changes in HLC scores (p less than .001) from admission to discharge. Weight changes at 6 months were positively correlated with admission HLC composite scores (p less than .01) and chance dimension (p less than .05) scores. There were negative correlations at 6 months between admission powerful other scores and changes in triglycerides (p less than .01) and changes in the ratio of cholesterol and high density lipids (p less than .01).

Life-style intervention: a conceptual framework

Improving one's life-style may improve one's health. However, there is a lack of consensus on how to promote compliance with newly adopted health habits. This paper presents a conceptual framework that individuals can learn to assess their life-styles and plan for health-behavior changes. It can also be used by professionals from different disciplines who are developing programs to teach healthy life-style choices. The framework is organized into three ideas: (1) Health status to a large extent reflects the individual's styles of living (a composite of beliefs, emotions, and action patterns). (2) These styles can be encouraged or sabotaged by the individual's support structures (relationships, environments, and equipment). (3) The change process can be seen as a series of steps that cycle through phases of readiness appraisal, decision making, experimentation, and reevaluation. clinical examples and documentation from relevant theory and research illustrate and substantiate the framework.