Course Project

Personal Health Behavior Change

This assignment is designed to help you apply the theories of health behavior change to your own life, while also giving you a valuable opportunity to change your own behavior! You will learn about the process of self-monitoring, which is a common first assignment in health behavior change programs.

  1. Choose a health behavior that you would like to change (e.g., nutrition, weight, smoking, nail biting, alcohol use, exercise, stress management).  DO NOT BEGIN YOUR PROJECT UNTIL YOU HAVE RECEIVED WRITTEN APPROVAL FROM THE INSTRUCTOR. Each Student will post their project title to course instructor via email.

Keep a detailed written log for one week, using the self-monitoring procedure.  Be sure to choose a behavior that you are already engaging in rather than one that you never or rarely do, so that you have something to monitor. Record the date and time of each behavior throughout the day for an entire week, using the format listed below

  1. According to the health belief model (HBM), what are your perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of contracting an illness due to this behavior? What are the perceived benefits and perceived barriers to changing this behavior for you?
  1. According to the transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM), what stage are you in at this time, with regard to changing this behavior? Explain why you see yourself as in this stage. 
  1. When you have finished your weekly log, write a 4-page paper specifying what the assignment was like for you.
  • What did you learn from the assignment?
  • What patterns do you notice, looking back over the week?
  • How easy/difficult was it for you to keep detailed records? 
  • Did the process of recording the behavior cause any change in the behavior?
  • Why do you think this is a common assignment given to people who are changing their health behaviors?

Include your log of the frequency of the health behavior (using the monitoring data you collected), clearly marking the baseline period, and points at which the intervention started and ended. The paper should be typed and double-spaced (see APA writing guidelines).

COURSE PROJECT/PAPER (75 POINTS):

Requirements and details for the course project are below towards the end of the syllabus.

This project is your “course paper.” It must be typed and conform to APA Format. It should include an APA title page, an introduction, APA citations, and APA written references.  Important note: Points will be taken off your paper if not APA format.  You will not be given a second change to make corrections. The Writing Center can help with APA formatting.  Go to the following link for help with APA formatting:  https://www.metrostate.edu/academics/success/tutoring

Length for the entire paper excluding references,graphs, and logs is 4 pages. Grading will be based on the quality of the project/paper and not on the relative success in changing the targeted behavior.  Also, 1 pt will be taken off each day your course project paper is late. 

A few more words about written assignments: It is expected that all written assignments will be clearly and well written. Besides being well thought out, assignments are to be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. All references to other work must be cited and referenced utilizing APA style. The Writing Center can help with APA formatting.   If you are a psychology major and do not already have a copy, consider purchasing the APA publication manual. This book is an optional textbok and can be ordered from any bookstore: American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. Washington, DC: author.