Under the Department of Preventive Health, Wellness programs provide a unique service, the Health Coach Clinic, to empower patients with unhealthy lifestyles, obesity, and chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome to improve their quality of lives by adopting healthy habits and behaviors.

The health coach clinic is available, under the care of health care professionals trained in the field of nutrition, health sciences and coaching, in seven health centers affiliated to the Corporation, namely: Leabaib, Rawdat Al Khail, Umm Salal, Muaither, Al Wajba, Al Ruwais and Al Khor.

In this context, Dr. Sarah Rashid Musa, Community Medicine Specialist and Wellness Center in Charge at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center, states that individuals can benefit from the health coach clinic and obtain referral through the healthy lifestyle clinic, after undergoing clinical evaluation and necessary laboratory tests, in addition to Lifestyle assessment.

Continuity of care is ensured through a three-month journey with a health coach who closely monitors the progress and improvement of the patient's condition. As Dr. Sarah explained, it is very important to consider individual differences, coping ability, risk factors, environmental impact, self-image, and patients' priorities when developing a plan and duration of treatment. 

In this context, Ms. Jollanar Khankan, a health coach at Rawdat Al Khail Health Center, explained that the clinic deals with a variety of cases and adopts multiple methods of behavior modification. "The goal is to create a structured and supportive partnership with patients to increase their self-confidence and self-efficacy." And based on each patient’s evaluation of lifestyle components (such as: dietary habits, water and fluid intake, physical activity, sleep patterns, stress coping skills, and tobacco consumption) in addition to an analysis of body mass and components (water inside and outside cells, the total percentage of water in the body, fat mass, visceral fat, muscle mass and internal metabolic rate) via a dedicated device, an individual plan is developed using a patient-centered approach.

Ms. Deborah Nazareno, health coach at Rawdat Al Khail Health Centre, added that it is important during the initial visit to make a comprehensive assessment of all aspects and agree on short- and long-term goals, develop a treatment plan and involve the patient in every step. She also noted that the concept of behavior change is complex, and that is why the health coach clinics focus on increasing awareness, motivation, self-efficacy, emotional regulation, and environmental influences, using many approaches, including motivational interviews and behavior change theories such as social cognitive theory and the stages of change model.

Health coaches do their best to provide a stable and reassuring environment for patients to identify their thoughts, their intention to change, obstacles to changing their behavior, focus on their achievements and positive reinforcements, all of which assist in making healthy decisions, and monitor themselves continuously.