Predictors of Progressing Toward Lifestyle Change Among Participants of an Interprofessional Lifestyle Medicine Program

Background: Therapeutic lifestyle change can be challenging, and not every attempt is successful.

Purpose: To identify predictors of making progress toward lifestyle change among patients who participate in a lifestyle medicine program.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study of 205 adults who enrolled in a goal-directed, individualized, interprofessional lifestyle medicine program. The primary outcome was whether, by the end of participation with the program, a patient reported making progress toward lifestyle change. Candidate predictors included sociodemographic, psychological, and health-related variables.

Results: Among 205 patients (median (IQR) age 58 (44-66) years, 164 (80%) female), 93 (45%) made progress toward lifestyle change during program participation. A predictor of making progress was being motivated by stress reduction (OR 2.8 [95% CI 1.1-7.6], P = .038). Predictors of not making progress included having a primary goal of losing weight (OR .3 [.2-.8], P = .012) and having a history of depression (OR .4 [.2-.7], P = .041).

Conclusions: To maximize a patient's likelihood of successfully making lifestyle changes, clinicians and patients may consider focusing on identifying goals that are immediately and palpably affected by lifestyle change. Additional research is warranted to identify effective program-level approaches to maximize the likelihood of success for patients with a history of depression.