If your goal is to help more people get the healthy results they are looking for, then there is something you should know.

by Phil Beene
November 25, 2018

The majority of health programs, no matter how “proven” they are or brilliant the health professional behind them, are doomed to fall victim to the same fatal design flaw…

They are designed to work “on subjects,” rather than “for participants.”

Subjects Versus Participants

Subjects can be monitored in a controlled setting to make sure they adhere to each step of a program. So if a program “prescribes” the right steps, it’s will get the desired result.

Think of a patient in a hospital bed with a diagnosed illness. The doctor prescribes the right treatment and the patient’s condition will improve because the treatment is administered while they watch. Each step is adhered to because each step is monitored.

In other words, the “program” works because adherence is virtually guaranteed.

Participants on the other hand, experience your health program in the midst of all the other chaos, distractions and competing priorities that make up modern life.

So even if we assume the program can “prescribe” the perfect solution to a participant’s health challenges, there is no guarantee the “treatment” will ever be administered as intended.

If I have high cholesterol and the program prescribes a plant-based diet, it’s not up to a nurse to stick a veggie-quinoa bowl into my I.V. and call it a day.

It’s up to me to get my hands on that healthy meal in-between working on my big presentation and picking my daughter up from soccer practice.

And by the way, I’m going to drive past 3 billboards with tasty looking cheeseburgers (and I freggin’ LOVE cheeseburgers), while I drive from home, to the office, to school and back again. And how convenient is that drive-thru going to look when I’m in a hurry!?

Subjects Need A Program, Participants Need A Guide

The easy thing to do when confronted with this reality as a health professional is to throw your hands in the air and say, “Well, I told him what would work. It’s right there in the plan I gave him.”

MAYBE that used to be all we could do. But today we can do better.

A smartphone in-and-of itself is another distraction for your participants. But a smartphone harnessed by you - a committed health professional - as part of a targeted effort to help the people in your program keep the healthy changes you are working for together top-of-mind in the midst of all the other competing priorities in their lives?

That is the magic that makes healthy change stick. That is the power of mobile health coaching.

So Here’s The Thing

I know you know how to help your participants lose weight, reduce stress, prevent or reverse diabetes, etc. Your training is undeniable, so don’t doubt your expertise.

But helping people change the deeply ingrained behaviors that have been part of someone’s life for years (if not longer) is simply going to take a little more than a plan.

Having a plan will convince them you can help, having a mobile coaching app will help them keep their health top-of-mind throughout the journey, and having you as a trusted guide pursuing the change along with them is the thing that will make it all happen.

If you have a great program, but don’t yet have great tools to help you guide people to their goals, take a look at a demo of Nudge Coach.

We’ll help you tie it all together for a more engaging program that gets the results that your program, and your participants, deserve.