Positive Counselling Relationship Development

As the patient has been newly diagnosed with a chronic illness and has no previous exercise experience I would take the time build good rapport as they may be dealing with many stresses or fears with their recent diagnoses. I would use good eye contact and an open body language. Communication will be the key to ensuring the patient's perspective is validated and I understand their expectation. I would use positive clinical engagement during the initial consultation allowing the development of a partnership, rapport, trust and confidence to ensure the patient becomes an active participant in their exercise planning.

The factors which influence patient engagement are transparency (knowledge of what is and isn't known), repetition (information is verbal, visual & written down), resources (answer questions internet use can be both positive & negative), patience (support progress, failures and offer advice) and goals (used to gauge progress and accomplishments). After the assessment stages I would establish the patients learning style as this will influence the style and method of exercise as there will be an initial learning stage during the first few exercise sessions. …show more content…
In order to develop a positive counselling relationship I would consider the following factors: empathy (listening and understanding), respect (positive attributes of the client, positive statements), immediacy (directly address issues), uncondiational positive regard (acceptance of client whilst setting limits on behaviour) and genuineness