Behavioral Health Competencies DRAFT
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Practice patient-centered and relationship-based care.
- Use a guiding helping style and relationship-centered approach to facilitate healing rather than relying heavily on a directing helping style and the use of advice and information.
- Demonstrate respect and understanding for patients' interpretations of health, disease, and illness that are based upon their cultural beliefs and practices.
- Demonstrate the ability to reflect on elements of patient encounters, including personal bias and belief, to facilitate understanding of relationship-centered care.
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Obtain a comprehensive health history which includes mind-body-spirit, nutrition, and the use of conventional, complementary and integrative therapies and disciplines.
- Demonstrate patient-centered history taking, using a biopsychosocial approach that includes an accurate nutritional history, spiritual history, and inquiry of conventional and complementary treatments.
- Administer reliable and valid screening and assessment resources and interpret and provide feedback to patient and other healthcare professionals on the results.
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Collaborate with individuals and families to develop a personalized plan of care to promote health and well-being which incorporates integrative approaches including lifestyle counseling and the use of mind-body strategies.
- Collaborate with patients in developing and carrying out a health screening and management plan for disease prevention and treatment using conventional and complementary therapies when indicated.
- Utilize the shared decision-making model to facilitate patient engagement and participation in treatment plan.
- Utilize screening and assessment measures to evaluate treatment progress, make changes in treatment based on ongoing evaluation of treatment progress, and demonstrate treatment improvement over time.
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Demonstrate skills in utilizing the evidence as it pertains to integrative healthcare.
- Evaluate the evidence base for the relationships between health and disease and the following factors: emotion, stress, nutrition, physical activity, social support, spirituality, sleep, and environment.
- Evaluate the strengths and limitations of evidence-based medicine (EBM) as it applies to conventional and complementary approaches and its translation into patient care.
- Use EBM resources, including those related to CAM, at the point of care.
- Identify reputable print and/or online resources on conventional and complementary.
- Provide education to patients on available treatment options, including costs and benefits of different evidence-based approaches to care (e.g., medications, CAM, behavioral and lifestyle change).
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Demonstrate knowledge about the major conventional, complementary and integrative health professions.
- Articulate national and state standards related to training, licensing, credentialing, and reimbursement of community CAM practitioners.
- Demonstrate understanding of common complementary medicine therapies, including their history, theory, proposed mechanisms, safety/efficacy profile, contraindications, prevalence, and patterns of use.
- Analyze and synthesize evidence-based treatment approaches based on medical model, behavioral health, and CAM.
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Facilitate behavior change in individuals, families and communities.
- Facilitate health behavior changes in patients in a collaborative manner using a helping style like motivational interviewing or appreciative inquiry.
- Help the client find and use his or her motivation and increase his or her commitment to a treatment plan as might occur with a motivational interviewing approach or with attention to the Transtheoretical Model or the 5 A’s.
- Help the client apply and use behavior change strategies and techniques based on evidence-based models such as cognitive-behavioral therapies, solution-focused therapy, or implementation intentions.
- Deliver treatment based on most effective and efficient treatment modalities (e.g., individual, couples, family and group education/intervention).
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Work effectively as a member of an interprofessional team.
- Demonstrate respect for peers, staff, consultants, and CAM practitioners who share in the care of patients.
- Collaborate with community CAM practitioners and other healthcare specialists in the care of patients, while understanding legal implications and appropriate documentation issues.
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Engage in personal behaviors and self-care practices that promote optimal health and wellbeing
- Articulate the importance of self-care practices to improve personal health, maintain work–life equilibrium, and serve as a role model for patients, staff, and colleagues.
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Incorporate integrative healthcare into community settings and into the healthcare system at large.
- Articulate the different reimbursement systems and their impact on patient access to both.
- Identify strategies for facilitating access to Integrative Medicine services for their patients, including low-income populations.
- Articulate the principles of designing a healthcare setting that reflects a healing environment.
- Communicate effectively and efficiently with professionals from other disciplines such as physicians, allied health professionals, health care management and community-based providers and support systems.
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Incorporate ethical standards of practice into all interactions with individuals, organizations and communities.
- Refer to American Psychological Association. (2015). Competencies for Psychology Practice in Primary Care sections 3C-Ethics in Primary Care Settings and 3D-Reflective Practice/Self–Assessment/Self-care http://www.apa.org/ed/resources/competencies-practice.pdf.
Competency Development
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