Healthy Habits Program for High Cardiovascular Risk Patients: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Participants in this arm will be invited to attend 8 weekly group meetings and 3 monthly follow-up meetings. In each meeting a coordinator will explore the experiences of the participants and encourage them to look for strategies to solve problems associated with changing habits. In the meetings we will use a therapeutic education approach with motivational interviewing techniques and problem solving in order to increase self-efficacy and motivation to adopt healthy habits. There will be periodic reminders and telephone contacts with patients before the meetings to assess the achievement of objectives.

Participants will be invited to participate in 4 weekly group meetings and an additional reinforcing meeting in the 5th month. In each meeting, workshop techniques will be used, together with educational materials as brochures, pictures, etc. The informational material will focus on the benefits of lifestyle changes in diet and physical activity.