Empowering and Motivating

This session discusses the implications of empowering young people to take decisions about their own health care and how this may have an impact on how well professional health care advice is followed. The learner will be introduced to what aspects of treatment influence and motivate adherence to prescribed treatment regimens and will have an opportunity to assess practical approaches to help address ambivalence in order to influence behaviour change. This includes considering how to make conversations effective and helpful, and identify key factors that are important during conversations with young people.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify components of an effective conversation with young people
• Learn which aspects of treatment influence adherence to prescribed treatment regimens
• Consider the different meanings of empowerment
• Practice ways to help address ambivalence about changing behaviour

Health care professionals are all too aware of the effect of young people skipping medications or experimenting with behaviours that may prove to have negative outcomes. Adolescents are beginning to make their own health choices that can often be at odds with choices that we as adults would prefer. We often find ourselves having to talk to a young person to try and ‘make them see sense’.