Changing behavior is important for patient or client success in all practice settings. Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants have long been asking patients and clients to change some of their behaviors, either for the short term or for the long term and for reasons that will improve their functional status or quality of life or prevent decline. A new podcast introduces a series on health behavior change, providing an overview of key theories and models and their value to PTs and PTAs.

A second podcast focuses exclusively on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, an important and complex model that involves emotions, cognitions, and behavior. This model, relying on self-report, has been applied to a wide variety of problem behaviors including smoking cessation, condom use for HIV protection, the use of sunscreens to prevent skin cancer, and stress management. The podcast provides an example of how the model can be applied to a patient with a shoulder strain due to an injury.