Hello, dear colleagues - We talk a lot about if OS leads to sustained change. As many of you know I also have a background in health education, and in health ed. (especially in HIV/AIDS education) we talk a lot about behavior change. I thought I'd add into the conversation a way that human behavior change is looked at by many behavioral scientists and health educators.
- - - - - - - - Behavior change theory is a way that we observe how and why people change (our best guess, anyway, as are all of our theories) - it is used quite a bit in understanding and designing community-based health education programs, from stop smoking programs to injection drug users' risk reduction (through their own actions) to understanding peoples' moving back and forth (less safe, more safe) in actions regarding safer sex. The simple version is that there is a continuum of change. We go backwards and forwards on this continuum (not just forward - gee I stopped smoking and I never go back to smoking - v-e-r-y rare for most people) but back and forth as things around us affect us in some way. Here is the (again, the simple) version of the Behavior Change Continuum: Not Ready to Think About It <--> Thinking About It <--> Getting Ready <--> Taking Action <--> Maintenance We dance back and forth and back and forth on this continuum. The things researchers observe that lead to peoples' change in the "less risk" direction (we OSonOSers can also call it 'healthier organizations', perhaps) include experiencing information and knowledge about their situation, general consciousness-raising, noting how their 'problem' affects their environment and/or those around them, assessing their feelings regarding their (current and next) behavior, commitment or belief in their ability to change, ongoing reinforcement for more healthful change, social support for the change, alternatives for less healthy behavior, avoiding high-risk situations that might toss them back into old patterns, a generally nutritious environment for positive change (tools at hand, role models in their lives, ongoing interventions / opportunities for transformation instead of single one-shot interventions, and the other things mentioned above) and so on. Think about this in an organizational sense - what those things would be / how you would design events, communication, structure and the daily workplace experience in an organization to keep it moving towards (or staying in the "maintenance" stage of) wellness. Or conversely, what would be those things in their environment / workplace / communication / structure that might provide barriers to forward, healthful transformation. No matter how great the OSs (or ongoing acupuncture treatments) are. Things that affect slipping back to the left (less healthful) items on this continuum would include environmental changes such as loss of income, health, housing, grief, scary or tragic events, hanging out with people in the old patterns, losing role models and losing (or losing sight of) those things above that lead to positive behavior. Or even *perceiving* the loss of one or more of those things. Now think about what *those* things would be in an organization. Lose a visionary leader who was backing change, lose budget, forget to go to your ongoing wellness appointments (or do your ongoing Open Space).Back you slide, picking up that cigarette again or biting into that big piece of chocolate cake. Slipping back into what was more damaging but also more familiar - easier to do (or let happen to you) when you're feeling smaller and overwhelmed. One more note is that behavioral scientists and educators can find ways to measure change but have a very difficult (and sometimes impossible) time measuring what *caused* the change - because many many factors can contribute together - which one was the seed? Maybe a situation, and a tool, and then an environmental change, and then a new friend or new supervisor, and then just one good day feeling well.hard to measure a person's entire environment. So it is interesting to me when we talk about how to 'prove' OS contributed to a change. Cheers from Berkeley, Lisa ________________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant, Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e 2325 Oregon Berkeley, California 94705-1106 USA +01 510 548-8449 <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
