Behavior Change and Coaching Strategies
What this domain tests
Behavior Change and Coaching Strategies tests your ability to match coaching to readiness, use motivational interviewing, set useful goals, and prevent relapse. Expect scenario questions about what to say first and what not to do.
Core rules
- Transtheoretical model stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse. Match the intervention to the stage; do not push action plans onto precontemplators.
- Motivational interviewing uses OARS: open questions, affirmations, reflections, and summaries. The spirit is collaboration, evocation, and autonomy support.
- SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Process goals (“walk 10 minutes after lunch three days this week”) often work better than outcome-only goals.
- Self-monitoring, stimulus control, problem-solving, and relapse-prevention planning improve adherence.
- Self-efficacy grows through mastery experiences, modeling, verbal persuasion, and reduced physiological arousal.
Worked example
A client says, “I know I should eat better, but I’m not ready to change anything.” This is contemplation, not action. A poor response is handing over a strict meal plan. A better response is reflective: “You feel pressure to change, but you’re not convinced the timing is right.” Then explore ambivalence and ask what a small first step might look like. The reasoning: advice-first coaching raises resistance when readiness is low.
Traps that cost marks
Giving a full plan to every client, confusing contemplation with preparation, using closed questions, and treating a lapse as failure rather than a review point.