Book Reviews

Second Editions of the MHH Books are being sent out for review: Please send addresses of any journals for review purposes to: MHealthyHabits@aol.com

Reviews for First Editions of Books

List of Journals/Reviewers

Click on the "headers" to go directly to each section

Family Practice: An International Journal 2002;19(5):573. Geoff Roberts, Chairman of Surrey Heath PCG and Joint Lead for Clinical Governance, England

Australian Family Physician 2002; 31(7):625. Professor Brian McAvoy, Deputy Director at the National Cancer Control Initiative, Australia. www.ncci.org.au

Book Reviews

Geoff Roberts, Chairman of Surrey Heath PCG and Joint Lead for Clinical Governance, England.

Review of Motivational Practice: Promoting Healthy Habits and Self-care of Chronic Diseases.

"This book is a new and exciting experience in a variety of ways. First, they are 'self-published' by the author which means that you visit the author's web-site (www.MotivateHealthyHabits.com) and he then uses a web-based company to print your copies on demand. In practical terms, this meant that the review copies were ring bound approximately A4-sized and looked more like academic reports than books. Perhaps this is the way of the future."

"Secondly, the content is stunning if you are looking for new presentations of not always new concepts. The style is made for reflective practitioners who like a little structure to help them reflect. Suggestions for reflection at the end of each chapter include 'how you have deepened your understanding about.', 'your emotional reaction to the content' as well as the more practical 'how it might improve what you do with your patients'."

"Motivational interviewing is of course not new. It is at least 10 years since I made a video on the topic with Steve Rollnick who is referred to in the introduction as a trail-blazer in the field. What these books do is to move from using a motivational approach as one of a variety of interventions to a position where this largely replaces the "fix-it" role in the consultation."

"Perhaps the author's previous experience of teaching communication skills, has led him down this route. The breadth and range of the text suggests a deep understanding of the area. This includes "How world views affect our approach" as well as the more traditional, clarifying roles and responsibilities, negotiating an agenda, assessing resistance and motivation and an interesting section on enhancing mutual understanding. All the sections are referenced almost to the point of exhaustion."

"The second book is a mixture of straight forward practical educational methods followed by examples of implementation of motivational techniques in the key areas of smoking, alcohol misuse and, more surprisingly, diabetes. Perhaps the section in the first book on "Exploring different kinds of evidence" might sit more comfortably in the second book."

"All in all both books are an uplifting experience and brought to mind Roger Neighbour's approach to learning. I couldn't help feeling that they might be the work books for a masters degree, but it is a degree that any doctor interested in human interaction would relish."

Brian McAvoy, Deputy Director at the National Cancer Control Initiative, Australia.

Review of Motivational Practice: Promoting Healthy Habits and Self-care of Chronic Diseases"

"Do you get frustrated at patients who don't follow your advice? Would you like to be more effective in helping your patients to stop smoking or reduce excessive drinking? Then these may be the books for you. Written and published by a British trained Professor of Family Medicine and Nursing from Rochester, New York these twin volumes aim to help students and practitioners learn how to change their professional roles, assumptions and mental maps before developing the skills to help others. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach to motivating behaviour change, the books build on the Transtheoretical Model of Change, Motivational Interviewing, Self-determination Theory, Self-efficacy Theory, Relapse Prevention and Solution-based Theory. Shifting the practitioner from a traditional 'fix-it', advice-giving role to a motivational role is the basic philosophy underlying these innovative volumes."

"The book outlines a six-step approach for motivating health behaviour change, assisting the practitioner to develop individualised interventions to meet patients' changing needs over time. The six-steps are: building partnerships, negotiating an agenda, assessing resistance and motivation, enhancing mutual understanding, implementing a plan for change and following through. It is intended to help the practitioner learn how to initiate 'change' dialogues with patients and provides a model for continuing professional development, using a learner-centred approach. This is based on the practitioner using the PARE (Prepare, Act, Reflect, Enhance) improvement cycle to work on achieving his/her goals. Three specific health behaviours - excessive alcohol use, tobacco use and self-care of diabetes are addressed in the second volume. This process is facilitated by the use of the decision-balance, a tool which helps patients to explore four domains related to their unhealthy behaviour - body (physical health), mind (thoughts and perceptions), heart (feelings) and soul (values)."

"These are practical manuals, each chapter beginning with a question for reflection and an overview, and ending with a moving on section. Sprinkled with numerous learning exercises and worksheets to help the reader to develop a learning plan and a portfolio, the text is underpinned by a solid evidence base and extensive references. Some practitioners may find the North American behavioural science-speak a little irritating, but the basic approach and practicality of these two volumes should be of interest to those who wish to expand their repertoire of clinical skills."