Brief Action Planning Course

BAP is a pragmatic, evidence-informed, and versatile MI-consistent tool designed to support client self-management and facilitate health behavior change.

Do you find that clients often get excited about making a change in their lives only to get stuck or discouraged when it comes to actually making that change? Or they make an attempt only to give up soon after?
Do you have clients who intend to make a behavior change but are unsure of what to do or how to do it?
Would you like to see your clients immediately succeed in accomplishing “small” changes, thereby building their confidence to tackle “bigger” challenges?
Would you like a formalized plan shown to help clients experience success and maintain their goal much quicker than ever before?

Then Brief Action Planning (BAP) is for you!

BAP is:

A highly structured, patient-centered, self-management support technique designed with quick goal achievement in mind.

Grounded in the principles and practices of Motivational Interviewing and the psychology of behavior change.

Designed to increase an individual’s confidence in their ability to sustain change and, in turn, increases their interest in attempting more change!

Who can benefit from this course?

Any helping professional that supports client change!
If you want to expand on your MI skills with a tool that’s specifically designed for the action stage of change, this course is for you!
If you are unfamiliar with MI, but would still like a proven step-by-step plan for change that you can use with any client, this course is for you!

Brief Action Planning (BAP)

A Versatile MI-consistent Tool
BAP is a pragmatic, evidence-informed, and versatile MI-consistent tool designed to support client self-management and facilitate health behavior change.

For Clients Ready for Action Planning
BAP is especially appropriate for clients who are ready, or almost ready, for action planning.

For MI Practitioners
For MI practitioners, BAP offers an evidence-informed, efficient, and flexible roadmap from “Evocation” into and through “Planning.”

Evidence-Informed

A recent scoping review of the literature revealed 143 peer-reviewed publications.

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$200 /One time payment

Hosted by Steven Cole, MD

Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus – Stony Brook University School of Medicine
Clinical Professor of Scientific Education, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Member of MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers)

Online, self-directed 8 module course
One hour/month online
Enhanced by 8 monthly one-hour zoom meetings for review & practice
Prerequisite for attendance is clinical familiarity with BAP

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Course Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:
Define Brief Action Planning (BAP) & the 8 core competencies;
Define the Spirit of MI and and its importance for clinical practice and BAP; and
Use BAP in clinical practice.
(Optional) Qualify for participation in individual or zoom coaching enhancement designed to facilitate reaching criterion levels of proficiency in BAP and/or formal certification.

Background & Overview

A pre-cursor of BAP, entitled “UB-PAP” (“Ultra-Brief Personal Action Planning”) was initially developed by Steven Cole, circa 2002, as a patient self-management support tool for the Health Disparities Collaboratives for chronic conditions (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, depression, and asthma) in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). UB-PAP was published by the AMA, used in health centers, and studied in dissertation research. Together with Connie Davis, Damara Gutnick, and Kathy Reims circa 2010, UB-PAP was revised into the current formulation of Brief Action Planning (BAP). Since then, BAP has been widely used in the US and internationally. A recent scoping review (Med Clinics of North America, in press, November, 2023) revealed 143 peer reviewed publications and browser (eg google) searches of “Brief Action Planning” typically yield results in the hundreds of thousands & millions!

Three Core Questions

Brief Action Planning is organized around three core questions:

“Is there anything you would like to do for your health in the next week or two?” (what, when, where, how often, etc?)

This question encourages the individual to view himself/herself as someone interested in personal health or wellness. Research tells us that once a person makes a statement that he or she is willing to do something(even in general) for health or wellness, the universal human need for “consistency” facilitates development and commitment to a concrete action plan.

“On a 0-10 scale of confidence, were 0 means no confidence and 10 means alot of confidence, about how confident are you that you will be able to carry out your plan?”

Scaling for confidence is a way to help predict or even increase the likelihood of success of a personal action plan. Kate Lorig and others have found that confidence is one of the key factors in making successful behavior changes.

“Would you like to set a specific time to check in about your plan to see how things have been going?”

The most important point of Question Three is the introduction of accountability. Any element of accountability increases the likelihood of success in action planning.

Five Additional Skills

S.M.A.R.T. Behavioral Contracting (Foundational Skill)
Elicitation of Commitment Statement (Foundational Skill)
Check on Progress (Follow Up) (Foundational Skills)
Offer a Behavioral Menu (Stepped-Care Skill, for use when needed)
Problem Solve Barriers (Stepped-Care Skill, for use when needed)

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Decades of Research

Brief Action Planning (BAP) rests on a solid foundation of decades of theory development and research across communication, psychological, and behavioral sciences, including:

Self-Determination Theory
Self-Management Support
Self-Efficacy
Motivational Interviewing
Transtheoretical Stage of Change
Client-Centered Theory & Therapy
Operant Conditioning
Cognitive-Behavioral Theory & Therapy
A-theoretical Psychotherapy Research
A-theoretical Communication Research

Links & Downloads

Overview of Methods, Media, & Time Commitment

BAP: Core Competencies will teach and train you to use the eight basic competencies of “Brief Action Planning” (BAP1). The course consists of approximately eight hours of multi-modal learning: online self-directed reading; three high definition annotated video demonstration of skills; three online interactive quizzes with feedback for incorrect answers; three real-world field exercises to practice and consolidate skills; and a final exam to confirm mastery of core concepts.

Navigating the Online Course

The course is built around an online, automated, interactive learning program, which includes written materials, video demonstrations of all the skills covered, three online quizzes, three field exercises, evaluations, and a final exam. You will advance through the course systematically by completing each unit. At the end of each unit, mark the unit as complete, and then follow the prompt to advance to the next unit. The column on the right side of the page will display your completed units in bold color. In addition, you can choose to use the links found in the right column to review completed units, quizzes, and exercises. Review course content in the manner that best suits your personal learning style. All units and the final exam (which must be passed with a score of 80% or higher) must be completed to receive CE.

Authorship

This course was written by Steven Cole, MD, with contributions from Hillary Bolter, LCSW, LCAS and Deirdra Frum-Vassallo, PsyD. The authors gratefully acknowledge the comments and contributions of Donald Fidler, Mary Raju Cole. Connie Davis, Damara Gutnick, and Kathy Reims to elements of the course development.

Disclosure

Dr. Steven Cole (author), and Hillary Logan, LCSW, LCAS and Deirdra Frum-Vassallo, PsyD (contributors) and the CE provider have no relevant financial interest or other relationship with a commercial interest, (defined as any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients), that relates to the content that will be discussed in this educational activity.

Continuing Education Credits

BAP: CORE COMPETENCIES (CE) MI Center for Change is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. MI Center for Change maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Awarding of Continuing Education Credits for mental health counselors, social workers, addiction counselors, and psychologists is in process but cannot yet be provided for taking this course. Participants will receive a certificate of completion that they can turn in to their licensure board. Physicians, NPs, and PAs, however, can receive (optional) CME for these courses from the Stony Brook University Office of Continuing Medical Education for an additional $75 per course fee.
¹BAP is a registered trademark of Steven Cole. It may be used for clinical purposes and research without permission.