Behaviour change counselling--how do I know if I am doing it well? The development of the Behaviour Change...

The purpose of this article is to operationalize behaviour change counselling skills (motivation enhancement, behaviour modification, emotion management) that facilitate self-management support activities and evaluate the psychometric properties of an expert rater scale, the Behaviour Change Counselling Scale (BCCS).

Twenty-one healthcare providers with varying levels of behaviour change counselling training interviewed a simulated patient. Videotapes were independently rated by 3 experts on 2 occasions over 6 months. Data on item/subscale characteristics, interrater and test-retest reliability, preliminary data on construct reliability, were reported.

All items of the BCCS performed well with the exception of 3 that were dropped due to infrequent endorsement. Most subscales showed strong psychometric properties. Interrater and test-retest reliability coefficients were uniformly high. Competency scores improved significantly from pre- to posttraining.

Behaviour change counselling skills to guide lifestyle interventions can be operationalized and assessed in a reliable and valid manner.

The BCCS can be used to guide clinical training in lifestyle counselling by operationalizing the component skills and providing feedback on skill achieved. Further research is needed to establish cut scores for competency and scale construct and criterion validity.