What are you talking about? How conversations can improve health
This RSPH report examines the Make Every Contact Count (MECC) approach to improving health outcomes.
With the NHS struggling to cope with the crisis of rising long term and mental health conditions, we need to implement more preventative health measures to intervene early.
To become a healthier nation, the UK needs to adopt behaviour changes to promote good health outcomes such as reducing drinking, exercising more and eating healthier. One effect approach to address these issues is ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MECC).
The MECC approach – which involves a range of professionals being trained to have short, informal, focused conversations about health behaviour topics – is effective in introducing health behaviour change conversations into a variety of settings. We know that there are many benefits to MECC in promoting behaviour change and dealing with issues like the stigmatisation of certain conditions.
What are you talking about? At a glance
Key findings:
- The public supports training across a wide range of professions to promote mental and physical wellbeing
- MECC trainers told us that the training can be adapted across a wide range of workforce and settings, including gyms, schools and care homes
Recommendations:
- The government should direct more funding into preventative community care and utilise the wider public health workforce to reduce strain on the NHS.
- Local authorities, businesses, and sector leaders should consider how they can integrate different MECC approaches into a variety of settings and how they can support staff to access training
- The core and wider public health workforce need further training in low-level behaviour change approaches, with the MECC framework providing a strong overarching approach
Key statistics
of people support MECC training for community healthcare staff
of people support MECC training for teachers and educational staff
of people support MECC training for gym and sports club staff
Millions of conversations happen everyday that could be so much more impactful if health came up.
William Roberts, RSPH Chief Executive
There’s a perception that as a nation we prefer shying away from talking about our health and wellbeing. We need to move away from this and get talking. Early interventions like MECC that encourage people to make healthier choices that will be key to moving to a truly preventative approach.
Prevention in its truest form is about empowering the public to stay well and out of hospitals. Making that a reality will mean embedding the ethos of prevention across society through interventions like MECC.”
What is MECC?
MECC is an approach to health behaviour change conversations that must include one or more of the following elements: a question that creates an opening for a conversation, a spirit that supports individual’s response to person centred conversations, being led by cues given by the individual in the conversation, verbal and nonverbal behaviours that encourage conversations, providing support, active listening, and asking open discovery questions.
Embedding the MECC approach to promote health is a current strategic priority for the health system and whilst there has been significant work in the areas of physical health and behaviour change (including smoking; alcohol; weight management), the implementation of MECC in other important health promotion challenges have progressed at a slower pace. As such, to address this, RSPH has developed a suite of MECC training and a sustainable offer, that aims to support organisations cover some of those health challenges.
