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History and Overview
Based on a successful live health coach program, Virtual
Health Coach was funded by a grant and developed in partnership
with the Department of Defense. All branches of military service
have access to this technological innovation to broaden the
reach of health improvement services and gain control over
health care costs.
New Approach Needed
According to the latest Center for Disease Control (CDC)
published data, the nation lacks recent success in helping
people make healthy changes in areas such as smoking, weight,
and exercise. Changing lifestyle habits to improve health
is difficult and complex. Change begins with awareness but
must be fueled by motivation, a vision for the future, a plan
to make it happen, and resources to carry it out. Based on
adult learning principles and stages of change, Virtual Health
Coach integrates learning and technology to create an
engaging and comprehensive Internet program for health improvement.
Product Information
Virtual Health Coach is a new cost effective way
of empowering users to address the psychology of change through
self analysis of past and present attitudes, values and interests
that may be linked to lifestyle habits like smoking, exercise,
drinking and eating. Armed with a new understanding of self,
users are motivated to create a meaningful change plan that
will then lead them to a list of expert resources tailored
to their plan.
User Benefits
Virtual Health Coach addresses all the major unhealthy
lifestyle behavior issues that plague American's health everyday.
The program is easy to use, confidential, convenient, and
may engage hard-to-reach, high-risk individuals who are unlikely
to participate in traditional wellness programs or services.
Once a plan is created, users will immediately be shown resources
that are automatically tailored to match their plan.
Provider Benefits
Control of Collected Aggregate Data for:
Ongoing Reports-
Virtual Health Coach is the ultimate organizational health
assessment. Providers have access to aggregate data at all
times through the program's “backroom” function,
thus allowing them to continuously monitor use and create
tailored reports “on-the-fly”. Providers can design
on-target programs, and services that will maximize valuable
wellness resource dollars by knowing the answers to:
- Who wants to change? (add simple demographic questions)
- What habits are they most ready to change? (smoking, exercise,
etc)
- What habits do they need to change but aren't ready?
- When do they plan to change? (now, next month, or in 6
months)
- How do they plan to change? (ask an expert, read a book,
attend a class, etc)
- What barriers do they anticipate? (lack of time, lack
of money, sabotage, etc)
- What is their preferred learning style? (visual, interactive,
print, etc)
Ongoing Program Evaluations and Reports-
Automatic email-based 6-month follow up evaluations will track
outcomes such as satisfaction and effectiveness. These evaluations
are tailored to measure outcomes that align with the organization’s
wellness goals.
Control of Resource Referral
Automatic Referral -
Wellness resource usage will increase as Virtual Health Coach
creates easy solutions through a resource function that allows
providers to lead users to their own programs and services
as well as local community and affiliate resources. Users
see only the resources that match needs that are defined in
the change plan they created.
Outcomes
Provider Organizations will:
- Begin to control employee health care costs
- Build trust by demonstrating effective listening and respect
for employees
- Increase use of internal and external wellness resources
- With one tool, provide assessment, intervention, and resource
support
- Have a system for monitoring data to make smart decisions
about wellness resources
To get more information on how your organization can use
Virtual Health Coach, call 636-256-1362.
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