[P3] Responding to Non Compliance and Preventing Personal Burn Out

Elizabeth J. McMahon, PhD

This seminar emphasizes hands-on practice of specific skills that you can use at work to increase patient adherence and in your life to prevent personal burnout. You will not only gain intellectual understanding of useful concepts and tools; you will have opportunities to try them and to identify ways they apply to your practice.

Because having lymphedema is emotionally stressful and challenging—and so is treating people with lymphedema —you will first learn about the emotional challenges that interfere with successful treatment. Then you will learn tips for effective coping that will help you as well as your patients.

Insights from psychology can illuminate the process of successful change and guide your interactions with patients. The Stages of Change model, derived from psychological research and clinical practice, provides a framework for understanding non-compliance and for acting to increase adherence and successful behavior change.

Learning to apply the Stages of Change model to your practice will enable you to:

• Identify a patient’s current stage of change
• Better understand what’s going on when patients don’t comply
• Match what you do to the patient’s current stage of change in order to maximize patient motivation and adherence.
• Reduce or avoid feelings of guilt, failure, or burnout

Finally, the seminar will present practical insights from Positive Psychology. Researchers have identified specific actions each of us can take to increase life satisfaction and happiness – even in the presence of ongoing stress, illness, or other difficulties.