Catalyze Behavior Change Through Motivation and Support. To bring about self-directed cbange, people must learn to learn from their experiences. According to Ch. in and Benner (1976, p. 3. 7), frequently people have learned to defend against the potential lessons of experience when these threaten existing equilibria, whether iu the person or in the social system. I11 order to help people lower their defenses and allow themselves to experience the needed change, it is necessary to have a learning emrironrnent that nurtures the change. The change agent can help the client pul to maximum use valid knowl. edge through concern for: (1) human needs or the "use-val ue~ of a given piece of knowledge; (2) security, trust, self-esteem, self-identity, group esteem and group identity; (3) accurate and appropriate preparatio n and transmissiuo of messages. To cat Rly. tc the change process, support is needed so that an otbenvise insecure, threatened or anxious client who is facetl with the stresses of an unfamiliar reality can e.,1>erience stability or feel some sense of self-trust or confidence to sustain actions and complete the behavior change. lo family health nursing practice, the family as a system needs to achieve optimum reality-orientation in its adaptation to changing internal and el\. 1:ernal environment. This is done by developin g and institutiona lizing its own problem-solving structures and processes t J1rough performance of the family health tasks. To catalyze the beh:wior ci1ange towards problem-solving competencies, a theory of family healtb nursing intervention was developed by Maglaya (1988). Motivation and support are components of this intervention. Motivation as conceptualized in the intervention theory is :rny ei,:perience or infomiation that leads the family to desire and agree to undergo the behavior change or proposed measure and take the initial action to bring about the change (p. t8). Support as an intervention is any experience or information that maintains, restores orenbances tbe capabilities or resources of the family to sustain these actions and l'Omplete the change process. The intervention leads the family to feel "secured~ or "in control of the situation ~ in the face of uncertain ties, stresses, blocks or ba. rriers to the solu lion of the heallh condition or problem or threats to self-esteem and affection or danger to life (p. 19). To il Justrate, a young mother with a severely malnourished nine-month old baby suffering from dia1·rhea can be so overwhe lmed with her child's condition that she rejects any advice to do oral reliydration and continue feeding the child. Experience taught the mother that such actions lead to vomiting and more frequent bouts of diarrhea. Through m~tivation and support, the nurse c:m help the young motlier understand the cyclical relationship of diarrhea and malnulrition and the causes of diarrhea when giving oral feeding. She can develop the mother's competencies to administer oral rehydration slowly through the cup, spoon or dropper. She Clln demonstrate to the rnot J1er how to prepare and give easily digested rice gruel mixed wi Lh protein concentrates. made from powdered beans, sun-dried or toasted-dry small. fish or shrimps (see Chapter 14). During the initial ex-periences of the mother in carrying out such measures to manage diarrl1ea, the nurse's physical and psychological availability or accessibi Jjfy are sources of support especially during experiences of fear, doubt and hc Jplcssncss. When the nurse can not be physically presen L, the young motlier can be made to feel that the nurse's help is readily available through the clinic visit, telephone or written note. · ln an evidence-bas ed inten1ention research on family empowerment for malaria prevention and control in a rural barangay (village) in Abra Province, motivation­ support intervention consisted of four major components (Maglaya el al, 1999). The first component included visioning or goal-setting activities which helped families clarifr or spec. :ifr the reasons for the needed behavior change. The second component consfared of plannlng sessions which focus. ed on developing family competencies to specify the objectives and strategies to achieve expected goals (i. e., what can be done 90, 