B5.01 - Skill-Building Intensive: Brief Digital Health and Wellness Coaching: Designing a Culturally Tailored Health Intervention for Minority Communities

Brief Abstract Summary: Discover a brief digital health and wellness coaching model that combines 20-minute remote coaching with daily automated digital messages over a 4–6-week period. Gain insights into a culturally tailored, evidence-based approach that enhances engagement for communities of color using social cognitive theory and the transtheoretical model. Learn how this adaptable program has been used to support chronic disease prevention among young adult Latinas and reduce stress and burnout in healthcare workers. Develop a program plan for adapting the blended coaching model to address the physical, mental, and spiritual health needs of a multicultural target audience. Participants will leave equipped to customize and apply this model to their communities.

Detailed abstract description: Coaching for health and well-being is commonly implemented as an evidence-based intervention to support individuals living with chronic health conditions. Frameworks that apply social cognitive theory and the transtheoretical model of change and incorporate elements of motivational interviewing and peer support are utilized for coaching. Behavioral health coaching also includes additional components to expand access and reach, including personalization, cultural tailoring, and behavior modification. Coaching programs often require extensive training and resources for development and delivery, but we will share a model that requires fewer resources and may be effectively implemented by public health students.

In this 60-minute Skill-Building Intensive, participants will be introduced to a brief digital health coaching model that combines 20-minute remote coaching with daily standardized, automated text and multimedia messages over a 4-to-6-week period. Health coaching relies on collaboration between participants and coaches to set and monitor physical, mental, social, and spiritual health goals for the program’s duration. Digital messages facilitate cultural tailoring to increase engagement, relevance, and success for communities of color and can be customized to support alternative technology and interactive components. The highly adaptable program leverages existing health education and promotion materials and is based on behavior change theories, evidence-based tools, and communication principles. This approach requires limited resources for implementation with capacity for broad reach. Data evaluating program impact for young adults and for healthcare workers will be presented to illustrate potential opportunities for adaptation, health outcomes, and requirements for implementation and training.

We will first demonstrate our program’s application targeting (1) chronic disease prevention among young adult Latinas and (2) burnout and stress management for healthcare workers, to clearly outline the process of developing the remote peer coaching and digital messaging intervention components. We will then guide participants to adapt the intervention for any audience and health or well-being topic. Participants will leave the workshop with a plan to adapt the blended digital health coaching model to meet the needs of their multicultural communities. The course brings together a team of five who each contribute unique expertise that includes multicultural health coaching, nursing, research with underrepresented communities, and health behavior science and digital messaging expertise.