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Taking the Transtheoretical Model Into the Field: A Curriculum for Lay Health Advisors

Cecil B. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Katherine Vatalaro, MPH

Office of Health Promotion at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia

Alexis Moore, MPH

Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Jo Anne Earp, ScD

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The transtheoretical model (TTM) is a commonly applied theoretical perspective for understanding mammography behaviors and improving the effectiveness of one-on-one counseling. The North Carolina Breast Cancer Screening Program (NC-BCSP) developed a training curriculum to incorporate TTM into the advising practices of lay health advisors (LHAs). The TTM helped "natural helper" LHAs understand that women in their rural North Carolina communities were likely to be in different stages for mammography screening and hence required different messages. NC-BCSP staff believed that by combining an understanding of TTM with LHAs’ natural helping abilities we potentially increased the effectiveness of LHA advising. Our limited evaluation, based on LHA feedback, suggests the curriculum is a useful training tool, even for those unfamiliar with behavior change models. Our TTM curriculum serves as an example of a health behavior theory successfully operationalized outside academia for use in the field by lay people.

Key Words: transtheoretical model • lay health advisors • curriculum development • mammography • breast cancer screening

Health Promotion Practice, Vol. 6, No. 3, 329-337 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1524839904263838


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