Authors – Jennifer Ohlendorf, PhD, RN and Lisa Anders, PhD, RN, IBCLC
First published – 2022
Major Concepts
- nurse coaching
- self-management
- health behavior change
Typology
This is a situation-specific theory at this point in time because of its specific focus on coaching for physical activity and eating behaviors in the perinatal year, taking into account the context of each person’s life circumstances to set and plan for achievable health goals. As I implement and evaluate the intervention designed using this theory, I believe this will develop into a middle-range theory for a nurse coaching intervention that could be applied to promote many health self-management behaviors (such as human milk provision, etc.)
Brief Description
CoaCH is a theory that can guide intervention development to guide nurses working in perinatal settings to engage in health behavior promotion via goal setting and planning with pregnant people to promote physical activity and nourishing eating behaviors. The Coaching for Childbearing Health (CoaCH) Model incorporates salient concepts from Ryan and Sawin’s Individual and Family Self Management Theory (2009) and from Meleis’s Transitions Theory (2000), along with qualitative data women shared as part of a goal-setting intervention during pregnancy. The resulting model can be used to design context-appropriate interventions nurses could use in prenatal practice to promote healthy behaviors across the perinatal transition. This model has already been used to design a coaching intervention and evaluation of the intervention is ongoing.
Primary Sources
Ohlendorf, J. M., & Anders, L. A. (2022). Coaching for Childbearing Health:
A Theory Synthesis. Advances in Nursing Science,45(3). doi: 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000401
Ohlendorf, J. M. (2013) Postpartum weight self-management: A concept analysis. Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, 27(1), 35-52. doi: 10.1891/1541-6577.27.1.35
About the Authors
Jennifer Ohlendorf, PhD, RN – Dr. Ohlendorf’s research centers around how nurses use their health promotion skills to act as health coaches for women to promote uptake of physical activity and healthy eating behaviors during life transitions. She working to develop and test a theory-based coaching intervention helping pregnant women set their own attainable physical activity and healthy eating goals throughout all 3 trimesters. The hope is that women will set up habits that may impact their health and the health of their families. Additionally, she engages in qualitative inquiries to understand the meaning movement and exercise have for women and nonbinary people.
Lisa Anders, PhD, RN, IBCLC – Dr. Anders is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009 and her PhD in Nursing from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2021. Her primary area of research focuses on optimizing the infant feeding experience for parents who pump human milk, aiming to improve comfort and outcomes for families. Additionally, Dr. Anders works on enhancing the education and training of the maternal-child health nursing workforce to ensure high-quality care across diverse settings.