Embracing a new beginning: understanding the teachable window for lifestyle change

Abstract

Teachable moments are periods of time that increases someone's openness to lifestyle change and lifestyle advice. As a result of this greater receptiveness, interventions centered around important life events demonstrate great potential. This thesis explores how life events, particularly those related to cardiovascular disease, serve as teachable moments, addressing three key questions: whether life events indeed have the potential to be teachable moments, the underlying mechanism that turn a life event into an increased motivation for behavior change, and how to best utilize teachable moments in healthcare. The findings reveal that both societal crises and personal health events can create a teachable window where individuals are more receptive to lifestyle advice. Several factors driving this motivation include changes in self-concept, heightened awareness of vulnerability, interpreting an event in terms of behavior causes and consequences, avoiding future regret over unhealthy choices, and wanting to regain control over one's life through positive lifestyle changes. Additionally, the findings underscores the critical role of timing and approach in delivering lifestyle advice, to fully optimize the potential that teachable windows have.