As I prepared my invited presentations for the Oregon Association for Behavior Analysis (ORABA) and the Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis (MOABA), I realized, why not share the theme of my talk for those who can’t attend, or are doing other things?!?!
So, here we go.
Consider this the cliff notes version.
The Lessons
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was fortunate enough to serve countless clients for a variety of target behaviors: increasing exercise minutes, decreasing weight, adhering to eating rules, and learning new exercise skills.
Over this period, I learned so much from these clients and continue to do so.
As I reflected, here are the 5 lessons that I learned from helping people improve their health and fitness behaviors during the pandemic.
Lesson #1 The Pandemic Leveled The Environmental Playing Field
Behavior. It’s a function of our environment.
We all faced the same environmental challenges at once.
When the gyms shut down, we were forced to work out at home or outdoors.
With social distancing, accessing health care professionals became more difficult – at first.
Local, state, and federal governments made decisions to varying degrees related to mandates and vaccine rules.
As a behavior analyst, I thought of these issues as I worked with my clients:
- Would new stimulus conditions evoke same health behaviors?
- Would health behaviors occur in the presence of new distractors?
- How would new training conditions affect skill acquisition?
Lesson #2: Being Telehealth Ready Allowed To Serve More
My coaching always relied on working remotely. Providing Telehealth services before Telehealth was cool.
The pandemic allowed me to serve more clients, analyze more behavior, and improve that many more lives.
Lesson #3: Training In Behavior Analysis and Subject Matter Expertise Prepared Me For The Unknown
My subject matter expertise includes sedentary behavior, workplace wellness, increasing exercise, and among all things, applied behavior analysis.
And what happened during the pandemic? The virus forced us indoors and away from each other – resulting in decreased physical activity and increased childhood obesity.
Then, when clients need behavioral solutions to address our common physical activity issue, I was ready to go!
Lesson #4: People are not lazy, fitness is skill development
For conversation’s sake, people often say:
“I’m not motivated”, or “I just can get going”.
…to that I say:
“Let’s look at your environment and learning history related to your current goals.”
The pandemic taught me that the use of mentalistic interpretations of behavior is not immune during this time.
I approach fitness and improved health – first – as a skill repertoire. Then, if the skills are in place, I can discuss whether or not someone is motivated to exercise.
Any skill development requires the appropriate feedback and reinforcement loop to increase the odds of that behavior occurring again.
No reinforcement, no skill to display.
You can be unmotivated, but if you have no skills to begin with, where can you even start?
Lesson #5: Reliance on ABA Principles Brought Tremendous Success
Not only for me, as a coach, but for my clients as well. People often ask if I have tried this intervention or that one. Each is a well-researched procedure but is a new skill for me to learn.
I focus on my strengths and the strengths of science. The principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) are sound, reliable, and always a pragmatic approach to solving any health and fitness challenge.
See, my coaching model includes key behavioral interventions inherent in the process:
- Feedback
- Participative Goal-Setting
- Self-Monitoring
- 1:1 Meetings (for goal review and social support)
These principles drive data-based decision-making and work in tandem with a host of other teaching strategies derived from science, including but not limited to:
- Accounting for Preferences and Choice
- Prioritizing skill development
- Video Modeling
- Feedback
- Task Analysis
- Shaping
- Progressive goal-setting
Those are some of the lessons I learned in the past 18 months of working with clients. There’s more, but a Top 5 feels right.
Interested in more of what I do? Click around, read the blogs, and listen to my podcast, BehaviorFit Radio.
Ep 56 | How Do You Feel About THIS Diet? | BehaviorFit Radio – BehaviorFit Radio
I hope to see you at a conference sometime.
