Knowledge Doesn't Change Behavior

But here's what can help

Last week I submitted an abstract for the national conference of the ADCES (Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists) and I want to give you a sneak peek at what it was about.

The thesis: knowledge doesn’t change behavior.

Even though you may have heard that before, it doesn’t necessarily feel intuitive. It feels like “Surely if I know something is good for me I will do it and if it’s bad for me I will stop doing it…”

You’d think that, but you’d be wrong (and don’t call me Shirley, lol).

But seriously, behavior change research has shown the simply have access to knowledge isn’t enough to affect behavior change. So what does?

Well, you certainly need knowledge, to the degree that a person needs to have the skill do the behavior that is expected. There are several different behavior change models, from the transtheoretical to the health belief model. There are some similarities to all of them but two things always stand out to me:

• Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is essentially a person’s belief about their own abilities. It is less a matter of do you know how to do something and more about do you believe that you can do something? Do you have confidence in your ability to do a skill?

• Growth mindset

Growth mindset is more about skill development. The idea that “I may not know how to do something now, but in time I can learn.” Growth mindset can eventually become stronger self-efficacy.

• Motivation

Motivation is the person’s desire for something, a desire for a particular outcome. If there’s no desire for the outcome, the outcome won’t happen, and also there needs to be motivation for the actual path to get to the outcome. The feeling of desire also tends to wax and wane as things become more difficult (we don’t like it when things are difficult) and so developing the skill to generate your own motivation is very important in sustained behavior change.

So why am I sharing this? Because if you have set a New Year’s Resolution to “lower your A1C” or get a better time-in-range or just “get in better control,” it will likely peter out if these 3 things are not part of your action plan.

You need to believe you can do something, you need to believe you can learn to do it if you don’t already, and you need to want do it.

These are things that your healthcare provider might not be supporting you on, but they are things that I focus on with each of my clients. Do we focus on data analytics and pattern management. Absolutely. But what good is all that information if you don’t feel confident to use it? If you don’t think you can make the changes the data suggests will be helpful? Or if your motivation to focus on your diabetes dries up about 17 days after your endo appointment?

My February calendar just opened with a couple of new spots and I would love to support you, so click this link to get started.