Making Every Contact Count and Healthy Conversation Skills as very brief or brief behaviour change interventions: a scoping review

Abstract

Aim: to identify and map the available evidence regarding the implementation of Making Every Contact Count and/or Healthy Conversation Skills for both staff delivering and service users receiving the brief or very brief intervention/s.

Methods: a scoping review approach was used to rapidly map and provide an overview of the relevant literature, identify gaps in knowledge, and inform further, related research. Articles investigating experiences, perceptions and impact of Making Every Contact Count and/or Healthy Conversation Skills were included. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies were eligible for inclusion, as were reviews and reports.

Results: twenty-two articles were included in total. Healthy Conversation Skills training was found to be acceptable and had a positive impact on staff confidence and competence in supporting behaviour change, across studies. Some positive effects of intervention exposure on the sedentary behaviour and dietary quality of service users were evidenced. Changes in confidence following Making Every Contact Count training were varied, as was perceived acceptability of the intervention for staff. Two studies highlighted positive impacts of the intervention on service user health, however, statistical significance was not reported. The perceived barriers and facilitators of implementation for both interventions mapped mostly to ‘Environmental Context and Resources’ on the Theoretical Domains Framework.

Conclusion: Healthy Conversation Skills is an acceptable and effective behaviour change intervention that could provide a consistent approach to Making Every Contact Count training and evaluation. Further research is warranted to evaluate this approach for more staff and service user groups.

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ORCID for Wendy Lawrence: orcid.org/0000-0003-1264-0438

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