Health Partnership - The Michigan WISEWOMAN Lifestyle Intervention

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Overview

Health Partnership encourages women to adopt healthier lifestyles to reduce cardiovascular and other chronic disease risk. The Michigan Department of Community Health contracts with the local health departments to implement the intervention which:

• Guides the client using client-driven goal setting, empowerment, and Motivational Interviewing techniques;
• Helps the client establish a total of one or two goals in the lifestyle behavior areas, i.e. nutrition, physical activity and smoking cessation;
• Encourages women to make progress toward goals and address barriers together through 2 to 5 contacts (face-to-face or by telephone) over the course of a year with the Lifestyle Counselor; and
• Provides educational materials and/or referrals to free or low cost community resources that support the client in making progress toward her goals.

Developing rapport is central to this intervention. While there are supporting materials, there is no standard curriculum.

Intended Population

Health Partnership Interventionwas designed for use with:

• low-income, mid-life women between the ages of 40 and 64 who are under or uninsured, and
• women who have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Setting

The program is designed for use in local community health departments.

Length of time in the field

The Health Partnership Intervention began in October 2001. However it has been modified over the years. From October 2001 until July 2005, only clients with elevated blood pressure, elevated total cholesterol and/or undesirable HDL participated in the intervention. Beginning in July 2005, all WISEWOMAN clients were allowed to participate in the intervention.