Category: Health Care and Life Sciences : Public Health

Reflection Question:Although we may be aware of desirable health behaviors, incl

Reflection Question:Although we may be aware of desirable health behaviors, including those behaviors we lack, often changing these behaviors may seem too daunting. Share an example of a health behavior that you would love to adopt and how you think a theory might just help you in changing your behavior.
Application Question:You are a public health practitioner. A community-based organization (CBO) has come to you to ask for your help in designing an intervention for their teens. They have had a disturbing number of accidents due to texting and driving. 
What individual level behavior theory would you use to guide you in developing your intervention? Why? What constructs from that theory do you think would be most important to use? Are there any cultural influences that might impact the selection of these constructs? 
Riekert, P., J. Ockene, P. Me, M., & Pbert, L. P. (2014). The Handbook of Health Behavior Change, 4th Edition. Springer Publishing Company. Read the following sections in Chapter 1:
Health Belief ModelLinks to an external site.
Theory of Planned BehaviorLinks to an external site.
Transtheoretical ModelLinks to an external site.
Hahn, A., PhD, & Popan, E. M. (2020). Theory of reasoned action (TRA).Links to an external site. Salem Press Encyclopedia.
Application of the Health Belief Model: Amini, R., Biglari, F., Khodaveisi, M., & Tapak, L. (2021). Effect of education based on the health belief model on earthquake preparedness in women.Links to an external site. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 52.
Application of the TPB Model: Huang, M., Chen, Ip., & Chung, S. (2022). The Theory of Planned Behavior for the Improvement of the Delayed Blood Donation Cycle, Optimization of the Planning Behavior, and Donor Intention.Links to an external site. BioMed Research International, 1–11. 
Application of Theory of Reasoned Action: Short, M. B., Marek, R. J., Knight, C. F., & Kusters, I. S. (2022). Understanding factors associated with intent to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.Links to an external site. Families, Systems, & Health, 40(2), 160–170.
Application of the Transtheoretical Model: Doran, E. M., Doidge, M., Aytur, S., & Wilson, R. S. (2022). Understanding farmers’ conservation behavior over time: A longitudinal application of the transtheoretical model of behavior change.Links to an external site. Journal of Environmental Management, 323. 
Module Notes: Individual Health Behavior Theories

Prior to completing the full project, you will submit a preliminary proposal of

Prior to completing the full project, you will submit a preliminary proposal of your topic, justify briefly why it is important (your rationale) and describe how you will organize your paper. Review the Final Project Overview to become familiar with what will be expected.
Submit this information in two to three paragraphs. 
Final Project: Application of Theory to Practice
Scenario:For this project, let’s imagine that you are a public health practitioner in your community. In recent years, there has been intense interest in the social determinants of health as a means to assess and improve health outcomes in your region. Your public health organization is going to apply for a national grant with a goal to improve health outcomes on the local to national level. Potential impact on one or more social determinants of health is the framework by which all proposals will be evaluated. A major criterion on the grant proposal evaluation rubric is theory to practice. 
Your regional public health director is aware that you are taking this course. The director is also acutely aware that health behaviors seldom occur in a vacuum. People are situated in communities, workplaces, schools, and environments that support or deter healthy behaviors and health outcomes. The director has charged you to come up with a proposal to address a pressing health behavior issue in your community that is related to one or more social determinants of health. Your director wants you to present your proposal in a month. Your proposal must include the following components:
Focus on a specific theory with application to your planned intervention
Use of data and best practice literature to support your planned intervention
An intervention for a health behavior (to start a healthy behavior or stop an unhealthy one) that
fosters inclusion and access to health care and
directly addresses one or more social determinants of health as defined by the U.S. Healthy People 2030 and the World Health Organization. You may find this article on the links between the health behaviors of people and their environments helpful in framing your project. 
Pick two of the above-listed behaviors and describe at least three factors that, in your experience and/or opinion, influence people to participate in that behavior. You should think about a wide array of characteristics or situations that may play a role in that behavior.
Resources: Short, S. E., & Mollborn, S. (2015). Social Determinants and Health Behaviors: Conceptual Frames and Empirical AdvancesLinks to an external site.. Current opinion in psychology, 5, 78–84. 
U.S. Healthy People 2030. Social Determinants of HealthLinks to an external site..
World Health Organization. Social Determinants of HealthLinks to an external site..
 
Topic Proposal – Module 2: Prior to completing the full proposal, you will submit a preliminary proposal of your paper topic including your chosen health behavior, the social determinant of health your chosen health behavior aligns to, and two theories you are considering. You will also provide a short rationale for your choices. This proposal is due at the end of Module 2. However, if you wish to submit earlier than that so that you can start working earlier, you are welcome to. 

Observation is one of the most powerful tools in the public health practitioner’

Observation is one of the most powerful tools in the public health practitioner’s arsenal. In this module, we discussed two types of logic: deductive and inductive. Using an observational approach, you are going to use an inductive logic process to identify and interpret a person’s behavior.
NOTE: Read the instructions in their entirety before completing any steps in the assignment.
This activity is an observational exercise that will help you to understand the inductive process. Your task is to train yourself to see as many concrete behaviors as you can without filtering them through any interpretive process. You will discover that this is very difficult to do, and an important part of the exercise is to learn, firsthand, what some of the challenges are in trying to formally document the things that people do in their everyday lives.
Select a place where you can observe people for about 20-30 minutes. If, as you observe, it becomes clear that people move through this place too quickly or too slowly, look around for another place.
Your task is to force yourself to see the concrete details of people’s actual behavior, not your interpretations of them. Watch what people do; suppress the natural instinct to evaluate people or to infer what people are doing based on assumed motives. Look at behavioral details like patterns of movement through space, hand gestures, posture, positions of legs or arms, ways of eating or drinking, eye or head movements, amount or volume of talking. “Friendly smile,” “in a hurry,” “flirting,” and “nervous” are interpretations, not actions.
As you observe, take brief notes of specific behaviors worth observing. Also take notes of any observable demographic characteristics of the person performing the behavior (gender, approximate age, race/ethnicity, physical characteristics, etc.).
When the time is up, stop and write down what you can recall of the behaviors you saw. Your jotted notes may remind you of things, and there may be others that did not make it into your notes.
For your written submission, address the following points:
Describe the location. Be sure to state how it supports your plan for observing people.
How many different behaviors did you observe? List and describe them.
How easy or difficult was it to document the behaviors and the characteristics of the people performing them? What made it easy or difficult?
Think back on one person in particular whose behavior was especially intriguing to you. What did they do? Was there something that happened that prompted them to engage in that behavior? Also describe the demographic characteristics of the person.
Based on what you observed, do you have any preliminary ideas about why your person of interest engaged in the behavior you saw?
If so, what are they?
If not, what other kinds of information do you feel you might need in order to start developing some ideas for why they engaged in the behavior?
Reflect on the experience of observing people’s behavior.
How did you feel as the observer?
Was the experience easy or difficult, and in what ways?
Did you identify any potential internal biases as you observed people’s behaviors? How so?
CITY PARK