CANADIAN JOURNAL OF DIABETES
VOLUME 37 – 2013
Behaviour Change Counsellingd: How Do I Know If I Am Doing It Well? The Development of the Behaviour Change Counselling Scale (BCCS)
Michael Vallis PhD
ABSTRACT
Objective
The purpose of this article is to operationalize behaviour change counselling skills (motivation enhancement, behaviour modification, emotion management) that facilitate self-management support
activities and evaluate the psychometric properties of an expert rater scale, the Behaviour Change Counselling Scale (BCCS).
Methods
Twenty-one healthcare providers with varying levels of behaviour change counselling training interviewed a simulated patient. Videotapes were independently rated by 3 experts on 2 occasions over
6 months. Data on item/subscale characteristics, interrater and testeretest reliability, preliminary data on construct reliability, were reported.
Results
All items of the BCCS performed well with the exception of 3 that were dropped due to infrequent endorsement. Most subscales showed strong psychometric properties. Interrater and testeretest reliability coefficients were uniformly high. Competency scores improved significantly from pre- to posttraining.
Conclusion
Behaviour change counselling skills to guide lifestyle interventions can be operationalized and assessed in a reliable and valid manner.
Practice Implications
The BCCS can be used to guide clinical training in lifestyle counselling by operationalizing the component skills and providing feedback on skill achieved. Further research is needed to establish cut scores for competency and scale construct and criterion validity.