Behaviour change ruler

The behaviour change ruler is a tool you can use as a visual aid to start a discussion about how your patient/client is feeling in relation to making a change in their behaviour. 

Imagine your patient /client has a goal which they discuss with you. Their readiness scores is a 9 but they only score a 5 on their confidence scale. You could discuss why they have scored 9 and not a 10? What do they see as the difference between scoring a 5 or a 6?

When discussing with your patient/client ask about the readiness and confidence questions :

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Readiness – On the ruler scale from 1 to 10 how ready are they to make their change?

Confidence – On the ruler scale from 1 to 10 how confident do they feel right now that they will be able to make the change?

What can you do to support them to be more confident? Do they need some information? Signposting to another service for help? Involve family and friends? Is the goal too big, does it need to be done in smaller steps?

It is important to revisit these scales again as the person attempts to reach their goal. Talk about what progress they will make or outcome they can measure to move up the scale.