Using behavioral skills training to teach goal setting for health behaviors

Beaulieu et al. (2024) wanted to know if a short BST class could teach adults to write SMART goals for health tasks.

They used a multiple-baseline design across adults. Each person got about 75 minutes of instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback.

The goal was clear: after training, every goal had to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

All adults quickly wrote complete SMART goals after the brief BST package.

Social-validity scores were high; people said the skill was useful and the training was worth their time.

Harper et al. (2023) used the same design and also saw near-perfect scores after BST, but they taught clinicians how to prep for team meetings. The pattern shows BST works for different adult job skills.

Laske et al. (2022) moved BST online and still got strong gains in public-speaking skills. Their results extend Beaulieu’s in-person model to remote settings, so you can teach goals—or speeches—over Zoom.

Ampuero et al. (2025) got 90% fidelity after one BST session with preservice teachers. Like Beaulieu, they prove a single, short package can lock in a new skill fast.

You can run this 75-minute script with clients, staff, or students who need to set clear health goals. No long workshops, no big budget—just follow the BST steps and watch the goals get SMART.