Health coaching a psychology grad’s dream

Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Health coaching a psychology grad’s dream

Sarah McGuinness’s investigation of body image and eating attitudes of midlife men and women for her psychology honours research has led her to doing something positive and practical to address issues she observed among those she studied.

Ms McGuinness graduated this week in Palmerston North with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree through Massey University’s School of Psychology. She has combined her degree with a background in communications and leadership training, and a keen interest in health and wellbeing, to launch a health-coaching practice in her hometown of Christchurch.

Health coaching is still relatively new to New Zealand, and she points out that her focus is on taking a whole-of-life approach, and finding what will work for the person whatever their health status and personal circumstances.

“Studying psychology was the missing piece for me in understanding what works in health coaching,” she says. “The first lecture I took I felt ‘I’m home’ because of the focus on behaviour, and understanding individual differences and what this means for making changes.”

Her research of 187 women and 48 men aged 30 to 60 through an online survey revealed midlife women were dissatisfied with their bodies and had more problematic eating attitudes when compared with midlife men. While her findings were not unexpected, they provide a snapshot of attitudes in an older age group for what is an important health issue, she says. She also uncovered nuances and insights that have helped inform her practical work on promoting healthy living for an older age group.

She was interested in studying both genders in this age group because little has been done to date, noting in her thesis that dissatisfaction with body image is so common it is considered normal behaviour among younger women. She wanted to know whether that dissatisfaction deepened for older women whose bodies are affected by biological changes such as pregnancy, aging and menopause – with the tendency for weight gain these produce.

“There is a lot of pressure for women to look a certain way and what my research found was that body image dissatisfaction certainly continues for women into midlife,” she says.

Building on work she’d done previously in Australia in leadership development, her health coaching business Red Tussock offers “evidence-based programmes and services that empower people to feel good about themselves and feel ready, confident and able to achieve great things,” she says.

While her business targets physical wellbeing, as a psychology scholar she is acutely aware that the mind is the most crucial tool for improving overall health. Her focus, she says, is to help people make a plan for change by identifying psychological and practical barriers – like attitudes that inhibit someone from getting enough exercise, or a lack of knowledge about eating well. She works one-on-one with clients on achievable, sustainable goals for improving their health and lifestyle.

“Mostly it’s about knowledge,” she says. “People just need support in working out what their options are. For some, it’s about getting past the idea that the only way to get fit is to go to the gym. You can walk – it doesn't cost anything! What’s important is to find something that you can do regularly, that fits into your life and that you enjoy. The mental benefits are just as important as the physical ones.”

She says it can be hard at first for people in the midlife zone to make lifestyle changes because they often have competing demands of work and family. And while some older people don’t care so much about body image, many want to find ways to stay in good health as they face the challenges of aging.

Ms McGuinness, who gave birth to two children while working on her thesis and setting up Red Tussock, says she understands firsthand the challenges of trying to juggle work, family and health. Massey’s distance learning programme enabled her to pursue her study goals alongside major life events, she says.

Her research supervisor Dr Joanne Taylor, a lecturer in the School of Psychology, says it’s always pleasing to see someone’s research findings being used to inform their own work. “Once the study is published, it will be available to other researchers and health professionals,” she says.

Ms McGuinness was one of 1211 graduands to be capped at six ceremonies this week.

Find out more about Red Tussock here.

© Scoop Media