UVM Integrative Lecture Series: “Community as Medicine with Open Source Wellness”
Lecture Type: Online Video (Link Here)
Time: 61 minutes 58 seconds
Date: February 01, 2021
Speakers: Elizabeth Markle, Ph.D., and Ben Emmert-Aronson, Ph.D.
Topic: Community Medicine
Introduction
Elizabeth Markle, Ph.D., and Ben Emmert-Aronson present a lecture through the UVM Integrative Health Care Series on how tointegrate community models in medicine. Dr. Markle and Dr. Emmert-Aronson are co-founders of Open Source Wellness, a nonprofit dedicated to improving human health by developing and implementing community-based models of care in a variety of settings.
You can click the link below to learn more about Open Source Wellness, training opportunities through their organization, and models to develop your own community-based practice in your healthcare setting.
https://www.opensourcewellness.org/
This lecture was hosted on Zoom and posted to YouTube. You can access a PDF of this presentation on the UVM Integrative Lecture Series home page.
You can view the lecture directly by clicking the link here.
You can access the PDF by clicking the link here.
“We designed the Open Source Wellness approach to function as a “Behavioral Pharmacy;” a delivery system for the human experiences and behaviors that actually drive health and wellbeing.”
(Open Source Wellness, 2022)
Behavioral Prescription
As training clinical psychologists, speakers Dr. Markle and Dr. Emmert-Aronson saw that physicians prescribed four main actions for patients to take to improve their health. Called the Big Four, these are:
- Exercise More
- Eat Better
- Reduce Your Stress
- Get Some Social Support
As they observed this trend in care, they also noticed that these orders were often given without any supporting patient education or other resources that could help patients make lifestyle change. They realized they wanted to create a structure that provided such support to patients.
Dr. Markle and Dr. Emmert-Aronson founded Open Source Wellness, which offers experientil and transdiagnostic care for all people that is integrated into clinical setting. Using group-based models, they provide services in relation to four main areas, similar to the big four. These are:
- Physical Activity
- Healthy Meals
- Social Support
- Stress Reduction
Community-Based Care
As a means of providing what Dr. Markle and Dr. Emmert-Aronson call a “behavioral pharmacy,” they share how they deliver this community-based care.
First, a patient receives a prescription from a physician to “participate in the community” through an Open Source Wellness program.
Second, the patient receives a call from a health coach to start to build the coaching-client relationship and learn what matters to the patient.
Third, patients are on-boarded into the program. They are taught ahead-of-time how to use any platforms that they will have access to, such as Zoom.
Fourth, programming begins. Each program is broken-down into a similar format but may vary depending on the goals of the group. The program starts with 20 minutes of activity, followed by 5 minutes of a stress reduction practice. Then, the group comes together for an educational lesson and discussion about one of the four main topics, described in the previous section for about 10 to 15 minutes. After the lesson, participants share a plant-based meal together or break for a healthy snack, depending on whether programming is in-person or virtual. The group is then divided into groups of four to six participants for about 45 minutes. Each break-out group is assigned a health coach who facilitates a deeper conversation about the current needs of the group. This empowers members to address issues that important to their own lives. Finally, the larger group comes together and shares statements of gratitude, goals for the next week before they return, and offer requests or resources that can be addressed by the group.
Fifth, and last, between weekly meeting the smaller groups are organized into texting channels to provide peer support to one another as they work to address their health goals until their next meeting.
Improving Outcomes
Dr. Markle and Dr. Emmert-Aronson share their data on how Open Source Wellness is improving health outcomes for their participants. According to their presentation, they saw clinical improvement in participants, measuring pre- and post-group interventions, for the following variables:
- Increased fruit and vegetable intake
- Increased weekly exercise time
- Increased social support
- Increased WHO 5-item Wellbeing Index
- Decreased depression (in a clinical cohort assessed with PHQ-9 survey)
- Decreased anxiety (in a clinical cohort)
- Decreased loneliness
- Decreased systolic blood pressure
You can access this data via the link above, or below, on the Open Source Wellness website. All p-values were statistically significant at p < 0.001.
Concluding Thoughts
Check out the links below to accessthe presentation and video by Dr. Markle and Dr. Emmert-Aronson. You can also learn more about Open Source Wellness, trainings offered, and connect to implement their model in your healthcare setting.
I have no affiliations to declare and do not receive any financial gain by referring to the Open Source Wellness website.
You can view the lecture directly by clicking the link here.
You can download to PDF of the presentation here.
You can also visit the UVM Integrative Health Care Lecture Series home page by clicking the link here.
You can access the Open Source Wellness website page here.
Citation
Markle, E. and Emmert-Aronson, B. (2021, February 01). Community as Medicine with Open Source Wellness. [Lecture Recording]. University of Vermont Laura Mann Integrative Health Care Lecture Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEKCVzQSGgA
Disclaimer
This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. The publisher of this content does not take responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, exercise or other lifestyle program.