Description
Assignment size:
10 pages / 2750 words (Double spacing)
Education level:
Master’s
English (US)
Assignment topic:
behavior change: Managing stress
Subject:
Other health education
Citation Style:
APA 6th edition
Instructions
Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to learn how to identify a problematic health behavior, to develop a behavioral intervention to modify this behavior, and to evaluate its effectiveness. By doing this assignment, you will be doing something to help yourself as well as learning how to develop a behavior change intervention.
Description of the assignment:
You will develop a personal behavior change plan, implement it, and then write a progress report.
You can focus on any health-related issue (including emotional health) that is of interest to you. You may choose to focus on yourself and a health behavior that affects you personally or you may do this assignment on someone else.
You must incorporate at least two behavior change theories in your plan.
The complete assignment must be 7-10 pages long excluding cover page, appendix etc, and be double-spaced, with Times New Roman, 12pt font only. Feel free to write more but remember it is quality that counts, not quantity. Please choose your words carefully and thoughtfully and consider each paper as an opportunity to improve your writing skills.
No large gaps between paragraphs. Each paragraph should be joined to the next paragraph. Begin each paragraph by indenting it 0.3″.
Make sure you number your pages.
Above you will see that I have attached several sample papers from students who took this course before. These sample papers should give you a good sense of how to do this assignment and what you need to do if you are striving for excellence.
Instructions:
Complete any health assessments. There are tons on the web. Discuss what you have learned from doing these assessments.
Based on the information obtained from these assessments as well as your self-awareness project, identify the behavior/s you wish to target for change, reasons for wanting to change or establish these behaviors, motivation level or readiness to change, and factors that you believe are responsible for the behavior that you wish to change.
Write a specific goal for the target behavior. You can have more than one goal but I would not recommend more than two. Knowing how to write a goal is extremely important. Above you will see an attached file called “How to set goals”. It shows how to write a goal based on a person’s stage of readiness to change a behavior
Select an observation procedure that is appropriate for the behavior you have chosen to change. Include forms on which the data will be recorded. Choose a recording strategy that is convenient to use.
Record baseline data for two weeks.
Once this is done, design an intervention. In other words, develop an appropriate behavior change procedure for a two week period. Select an intervention that is tied to a review of the research literature and is tailored to what you hope to accomplish. Identify some possible reinforcers that you might use to modify the behavior of interest. Specify when data will be collected, and when consequences will be delivered. Include one or two alternative strategies for changing the behavior in case the one you initially implement does not work. This section is the most important piece of the assignment as it will reflect your understanding of behavior change theories and your ability to apply them in practice.
Record data for two weeks post-intervention.
Finally, assess the overall effectiveness of the intervention.
Note: You will not be graded on your success at changing your behavior. Rather, you will be graded on how well you design your intervention, track your behavior (as well as your reflections) and present your results in your paper.
Things to remember:
Your final report must contain information on all the steps above.
Make sure you follow the APA format.
Every semester, a couple of students will submit this assignment and it will be obvious they completed the assignment at the last minute and just made up data. In other words, they did not observe their behavior for two weeks, do an intervention, and then observe their behavior for the next two weeks. I will know if you are fudging this assignment. You will be doing yourself a disservice (not me) if you choose to go down this path. This assignment is meant to provide you with an opportunity to change something about yourself and thus improve your quality of life. Please take advantage of this opportunity!
Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a zero grade. Please click on the ACADEMIC RESOURCES button on the left for information and policies about plagiarism.
This report should not just consist of pages of logs, menus, or other lists of daily activities- that belongs in the appendix section of your report.
Every semester, most students choose weight loss (diet or exercise) as their target behavior. I would like to see students expand their horizons and identify other areas of one’s life that could be enhanced and it does not just have to be physical health. Remember, health is not just physical – it is also emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual and environmental. In health education, often we tend to emphasis physical health over the other dimensions of health. This is something I want you to consider when doing this assignment.
To learn more about your personal health status and risk and to help you identify a personal health problem/issue to work on, you can visit any of the websites below:
http://www.realage.com/
http://www.menshealth.org/code/selfcare.html
http://www.health.state.nd.us/ndhd/quiz.htm
Feel free to locate other websites and assessment tools that can help you with this assignment.
Please make sure you read the grading rubric that is attached before you submit your assignment. It is intended to help you identify which areas of your assignment are good and which areas are weak. You can see how well you have completed this assignment before you submit your work. I want you to get into the habit of assessing your own performance before you submit your work rather than waiting for someone else to give you a grade and feedback. When you finally get your grade and feedback, there should be no surprises.
Above you will see that I have attached several sample papers from students who took this course before. These papers are extremely thorough and well written. These sample papers should give you a good sense of how to do this assignment and what you need to do if you are striving for excellence.
Write your report in a Microsoft Word file only (no other types of files or pdfs) and save your file as “(Your last name)ProfessionalPracticeProject”. For example: SmithProfessionalPracticeProject.
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Background
(evidence of having
completed the health
assessments to help
identify a behavior to
change)
Behavior/s you wish
to target for change
and reasons for
wanting to change
Motivation level or
readiness to change
and factors
responsible for the
behavior
Statement of goal/s
Exceeds
expectations
Provided extensive and
detailed evidence of
having completed a
variety of assessments
to help identify a
behavior to change
Did a thorough job
identifying behavior/s
to change and reasons
for wanting to change
Meets expectations
Provided clear
evidence of having
completed a variety of
assessments to help
identify a behavior to
change
Clearly identified
behavior/s to change
and reasons for
wanting to change
Approaching
expectations
Provided evidence of
having completed
some assessments to
help identify a behavior
to change
Did a fair job
identifying behavior/s
to change and reasons
for wanting to change
Described in detail the
motivation level or
readiness to change
and factors responsible
for the behavior
Goal/s were well
formulated. Goals were
very clear, concrete,
measurable and
realistic
A detailed and well
thought out plan is
presented for collecting
pre- and postintervention data
Clearly described the
motivation level or
readiness to change
and factors responsible
for the behavior
Goal/s were clear,
concrete, measurable
and realistic
Baseline data are
provided in a clear,
detailed, and creative
manner
Charts or graphs or
tables are provided
and data are presented
in a clear manner
Intervention (guided
by the principles of
two behavior change
models)
Excellent
understanding and
application of behavior
change models in the
design of the
intervention
Intervention reflects
good understanding
and application of
behavior change
models
Evidence of data for
two weeks (postintervention)
Post-intervention data
are provided in a clear,
detailed, and creative
manner
Charts or graphs or
tables are provided
and data are presented
in a clear manner
Assessment of the
overall effectiveness
of the intervention
and lesson gained
from this experience
Quality of writing
(scholarly, clarity of
writing, punctuation
and grammar,
adherence to APA
format)
Overall quality of
report
A thoughtful and
detailed analysis of the
project and
recommendations for
the future
Extremely well written
and adheres to APA
format
A solid analysis of the
project with
recommendations for
the future
Well written and
adheres to APA format
Fairly well written with
some minor grammar
or spelling mistakes
and/or minor problems
with APA format
Many grammar or
spelling mistakes, not
well written, and/or
several problems with
APA format
Exceeds expectations.
Shows considerable
effort in the design and
execution and nicely
presented
Good effort. Nicely
executed and well
written.
Fair effort overall.
Some strong areas
and some areas that
could be improved
Not well thought or
adequately written and
not up to standard
overall
Observation
procedure and data
collection system
that will be used to
document the target
behavior
Evidence of baseline
data for two weeks
(pre-intervention)
A clear plan is
presented for collecting
pre- and postintervention data
Did an adequate job
describing the
motivation level and
factors responsible for
the behavior
Goal/s were somewhat
clear, concrete,
measurable and
realistic but room for
improvement
A plan is presented for
collecting pre- and
post- intervention data
but it could benefit
from more detail
Does not meet
expectations
Provided inadequate
evidence of having
completed
assessments to help
identify a behavior to
change
Not enough
information on
behavior/s to change
and reasons for
wanting to change
Not enough
information on
motivation level and
factors responsible for
the behavior
Goal/s were not clear,
concrete, measurable
and/or realistic
Charts or graphs or
tables are provided but
are simplistic and data
are presented in a
satisfactory manner
Intervention is
somewhat grounded in
theoretical principles
and reflects fair
understanding of
behavior change
models
Charts or graphs or
tables are provided but
are simplistic and data
are presented in a
satisfactory manner
An analysis of the
project is provided but
lacks detail or depth
A plan is missing for
collecting pre- and
post- intervention data
or it is too brief
Charts or graphs or
tables are absent or
inadequate to describe
data
Inadequate application
of behavior-change
models in the design of
the intervention and
reflects little or no
understanding of
behavior change
models
Charts or graphs or
tables are absent or
inadequate to describe
data
An analysis of the
project is not provided
or is inadequate
Your overall grade for the report will be based on how well you addressed each component in your report. Please note that the
components are not weighted equally.
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