As a health and wellness professional, it is important to understand and apply behavior change theories in clinical practice. Personal lifestyle choices and behaviors can have a positive or negative impact on health. By engaging in healthy lifestyles, one can better prevent or manage chronic diseases. A behavior change process may be necessary in order for individuals to be successful in developing long-term and positive health outcomes. Review the required weekly resources on behavior change theories and address the subsequent elements:
- Choose one group you would like to work with after graduating from this program (i.e. children, adolescents, elderly, chronically ill).
- Analyze three lifestyle factors (positive and/or negative) that affect your group’s overall health and wellness. Support your analysis with scholarly sources.
- Select one of the Behavior Change Models (Health Belief Model; Stages of Change; Social Cognitive Theory; or Theory of Planned Behavior) and apply it to your chosen group. For example, you could apply the Health Belief Model to why some individuals with high cholesterol have not taken any action to change negative health behaviors to lower their cholesterol. Address how this behavior change model would aid you when working with this group.
- Analyze two factors (i.e. interpersonal, intrapersonal, institutional, community, public policy) or barriers that may impact your group’s behavior.
- Discuss your vision and role of how you could contribute to improving your group’s well-being. Address how self-efficacy relates to your role and your target population.
The Review of Behavior Change Theories Assignment
- Must be double-spaced, at least three pages in length (not including title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA style (Links to an external site.), as outlined in the Writing Center.
- Must include a separate title page with the following:
- Title of paper
- Student’s name
- Course name and number
- Instructor’s name
- Date submitted
- Must include an introduction and conclusion (Links to an external site.) paragraph.
- Must use at least four scholarly sources (Links to an external site.). The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment. Be sure to integrate your research (Links to an external site.) rather than simply inserting it.
- Must cite all sources in APA style, as outlined here (Links to an external site.) and here (Links to an external site.).
- Must include a separate reference page (Links to an external site.) that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
