Talk with Ethan and His Mom

Target

Pic 0: A slide appears with the title “Talk with Ethan and His Mom” and an image of a woman and a young boy.

Scenario: A health coach is seeing 10-year-old Ethan and his mother. Ethan’s BMI is at the 95^th percentile, but the coach’s past attempts to talk about his weight have fallen flat.

The health coach’s goals: Use MI to motivate this family to change Ethan’s habits and then develop a plan that works for them. They will use the techniques you learned:

Open-ended questions (Invite the family to share their story.)
Elicit-provide-elicit (Share information respectfully.)
Reflections (Use their own words to motivate them.)

In this conversation, you’ll watch the health coach work through the four phases of MI.

Engage the family.
- Build rapport, listen, and gather information.
Focus on a part of the problem.
- Collaboratively set the agenda.
Evoke their reasons for change.
- Elicit and strengthen change talk, and gauge their readiness for action.
Plan one or two small changes together.
- If they’re ready to change, work with the family on an action plan.

As the health coach progresses, the simulation will keep track of which phase they’re in and explain what that means.

Pic 1: The screen transitions to a new one titled “Ethan’s Chart: Diet and Activity History” with an image of a filled-out document which contains the following information about Ethan:

Client: Ethan Smith

How many glasses of the following does your child drink on a typical day?
- Juice: 1
- Water: 0
- Soda: 2
- Milk: 0
How many hours of physical activity does your child get each day?
- Typical weekday: 1 in gym class, Monday and Wednesday
- Typical weekend day: Maybe 30 minutes riding bike
How many hours does your child spend looking at a screen for entertainment on a typical day? (TV, video games, etcetera.)
- Typical weekday: 4 to 5
- Typical weekend day: 5 to 6
Does your family have any history of the following conditions? Check all that apply.
- Heart disease: No
- Diabetes: Yes
- Immune disorders: No

Pic 2: The screen changes to a scene in a children’s exam room, where a female health coach sits talking to Ethan and his mom, with Ethan sitting on the exam table.

Health Coach: So it looks like Ethan’s doing really well. And all his vaccines are up to date, so no shots today!

Ethan: Yay!

The health coach and Heather laugh.

Health Coach: And we have about ten minutes left, so there’s something I’d like to talk a little bit more about. Would that be okay?

Heather: Okay.

Coach: The health coach is currently in the engage stage of the conversation. Her goal is to raise the subject of Ethan’s BMI, build rapport, and learn about the family’s perspective.

Ethan’s thought: (sigh) I hope we can leave soon, I’m really close to beating Super Dragon Adventure!

Health Coach: I was wondering if it would be okay with you if we talked about Ethan's weight.

Heather: His weight? Um, okay.