The Role of Health Coaches in Global Pandemic

When we think of healthcare personnel in this pandemic, we most likely think of front-line emergency and ICU professionals. But because those who fare the worst are most often people with chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes and chronic respiratory illness, there truly is an important role for health coaches, too. This peer-review article published in the SAGE Journal Global Advances in Health and Medicine, August 2021, proposes how this wider role for health coaches may ameliorate this and future contagions.

Jordan, M. A. (2021). The Role of the Health Coach in a Global Pandemic. Global Advances in Health and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/21649561211039456

As the co-morbidities and other chronic conditions related to COVID-19 among individuals and families in low income communities are worsened by dual forces (lifestyle/behavioral choices and ingrained structural inequities), adding the support of certified health coaches to build trust, provide more convenient access to address vaccine hesitancy, and dispel falsehoods, is an effective means for advancing health and wellbeing. Group coaching and one-on-one coaching can work in tandem with public health initiatives for reducing chronic disease burden and addressing social determinants of health (SDoH). Skills are identified in coaching SDoH with expanded cultural competencies for health coaches.

​Conclusion: Certified professional health coaches can make a positive impact on general risk reduction of chronic diseases within ethnic/racial minorities, thereby supporting population health in facing future contagions with greater health resilience.