Health Behavior Changes in a Lifestyle Medicine Program: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study

Despite public health efforts and technological advancements, the global burden of lifestyle-related chronic diseases continues to grow. Lifestyle medicine, a discipline that leverages evidence-based behavioral interventions to prevent and manage chronic disease, presents a promising path to address this epidemic. Thus far, the lifestyle medicine field lacks comprehensive and validated tools to assess program effectiveness. This convergent mixed methods study fills a gap in research by examining the preliminary effectiveness of a promising lifestyle medicine program, the PAVING the Path to Wellness program. PAVING the Path to Wellness (PAVING program) is a group-based health promotion program centered on improving health behaviors, including physical activity, nutrition, sleep, substance use, stress management, and social connection. This pre-post evaluation aimed to assess (1) the preliminary effects of the PAVING program on the six lifestyle medicine health behaviors using the Lifestyle Medicine Health Behavior (LMHB) scale with 19 cohorts of PAVING groups ( n = 126) and (2) the impacts of the PAVING program on determinants of health behaviors (attitudes, perceived norms, and self-efficacy, etc.) through semi-structured interviews. The program positively influenced determinants of behavior and significantly improved self-reported nutrition, physical activity, sleep, social connection, stress, and avoidance of risky substances. This mixed methods pilot study captures the impact of a group-based lifestyle medicine program and provides an evaluation blueprint for other lifestyle medicine and health promotion programs to more effectively translate from research to practice.