Implementation and Reach of Health Coaching Using Motivational Interviewing to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Uninsured Illinois Women

CONTEXT: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality for US women; lack of health insurance contributes to poor control of risk factors and increased mortality. Health coaching including motivational interviewing can support primary and secondary CVD prevention, but among uninsured women, improving health outcomes is dependent on successfully reaching priority populations. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the implementation and reach of health coaching with motivational interviewing among clients in the Illinois WISEWOMAN Program (IWP), a CVD screening and risk-reduction program for uninsured women aged 40 to 64. INTERVENTION: Following CVD screening, motivational interviewing is offered to all IWP clients via four 30-min one-on-one health coaching sessions to offer personalized guidance on setting and achieving health behavior goals. SETTING: Our analysis included clients from the eight community-based Illinois agencies that implemented IWP from 2019 to 2023. DESIGN AND MEASURES: We assessed client demographic and baseline health characteristics among all IWP clients, those who participated in health coaching by attending at least one session, and those who completed health coaching by attending at least three of four sessions. We also assessed health coaching participation and completion by agency and examined agency-specific associations between client characteristics and health coaching participation and completion. RESULTS: Among IWP enrollees (n = 3094), 89.7% participated in at least one health coaching session but only 31.4% completed health coaching by attending at least three sessions. Over 90% of IWP clients participated in at least one health coaching session at 4 IWP agencies. Further, over 85% of health coaching participants completed health coaching at four agencies. Across agencies, no client-level characteristics were consistently associated with health coaching participation or completion. CONCLUSIONS: High motivational interviewing participation rates support its acceptability among uninsured women, but agency-level community-level barriers likely prevent client engagement in multiple sessions. Reducing CVD risk requires working with partner agencies to address barriers to reaching the priority population.