Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart and lung diseases represent a global threat, causing over 70% of deaths worldwide according to the World Health Organization. Early onset of these diseases can often be prevented by eating a healthy diet, being physically active, avoiding smoking and taking medications as prescribed. Physicians are often the ones who must let us know when one or many of these behaviours need improvement. However, the way doctors communicate this need for change can have a strong impact on whether the behaviour in question improves or not. Thankfully, health care professionals can be trained to improve this skill by learning "Motivational Communication" which can have a real impact on the health of their patients. However, training programs aimed at physicians often fall flat, as they fail to include them in their development, and can seem irrelevant. This study will develop, optimize and run a proof-of-concept study for MOTIVATOR, a Motivational Communication training program tailored to the health care context. First, we will build a core 4-hour program based on teaching the 11 core competencies of Motivational Communication. Second, we will use a series of focus groups with physicians to gradually modify the program to their needs. Third, we will test this modified program with a small sample, as proof that our concept works: the training should improve competency in Motivational Communication. This study will result in a program that is ready to be tested by a large sample, with a control group. By developing and optimizing a program to train physicians in Motivational Communication, we will soon be able to make it available to all. As doctors get better at communicating and supporting patients towards behaviour change, we take a step towards building healthier communities.