Part one project ; You will identify a behavior you wish to change and develop a comprehensive, realistic behavior change plan. This plan must be submitted in writing. You may write your answers directly on this document (please choose a different font color) or you may write them on a separate page. Your responses should be in complete sentences. Point totals for each section are listed below.
Step 1: Using the personal wellness assessments you’ve completed, identify one of the eight components of wellness in which your score was lowest (i.e. in which you need the most improvement). Discuss this aspect of your wellness.
Step 2: Assess all the factors that contribute to this wellness component. You can use the class notes, your textbook, your wellness assessment, and/or or this wellness guide to help you pinpoint specific behaviors that may be contributing to your current state of well-being. What could you do differently? Choose one specific behavior change you can make that will improve this aspect of your wellness.
Some things to keep in mind about the behavior you choose to focus on:
It must be related to at least one of the eight components of wellness
It must be a behavior that you are currently willing to change (i.e. you should be in the contemplation or preparation stage of change)
The timeline for this project is this semester, so your proposed behavior change must be able to be accomplished by the end of the semester
This can be an existing behavior you wish to modify or eliminate, or a behavior you do not currently do but wish to start
State your chosen behavior change in your write up. Also discuss what stage of change you are currently in when it comes to this desired behavior. Explain your answer.
Step 3: Now it’s time to set goals for yourself. These will be what you work toward this semester. You need to write two goals: one for the mid-point of the semester (which you will assess when we do part 2 of this project) and one for the end of the semester (which you will assess when we do part 3 of this project). Your goals must follow the SMART criteria, meaning they need to be: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-oriented. Please contact me if you’re struggling to formulate your goals.
Step 4: Come up with a plan. How, specifically, will you meet your goals? What steps will you take on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? Will you gradually make changes or will you go cold turkey? Will you start tomorrow, or do you still need to work through the preparation phase before you reach the action phase? Make sure to consider your current position on the stages of change spectrum as you are developing your plan.
Step 5: Identifying barriers and figuring out how to overcome them is an important part of your behavior change plan. Motivation and self efficacy are two of the largest barriers to change.
How will you stay motivated? Will you have a support system? If so, who? Will you use an app or fitness tracker? Use other self-monitoring behaviors? What will keep you working toward your goals for the next 3 months? When searching for motivating factors, discuss what you stand to gain in the short- and long-term by making this change.
Self efficacy is your belief in yourself and your ability to make this change. Discuss your self efficacy in regard to your proposed change. Do you believe in your ability to make this change? Are you struggling to believe in yourself? Explain the strategies you will use to maintain or improve your self efficacy as you begin making this change.
What other barriers will you face when it comes to making this change? How, specifically, will you overcome these barriers?
Step 6: Relapse is a normal part of behavior change, and you will probably experience it more than once this semester. This is nothing to be ashamed of, and it’s not the end of the world when a relapse occurs. In fact, relapses provide an excellent opportunity to learn about yourself and what caused you to deviate from your plan. However, it’s important to have a strategy in place for dealing with relapses. What is your strategy? What will you do when you relapse? How will you move forward and get back on track?
Step 7: Rewards are an important part of any behavior change plan, and they can provide motivation as well. Rewards should be loosely related to your goal (for example, treating yourself to something you’ve been wanting to buy using the money you saved by not purchasing cigarettes) and should not be food or alcohol based. How will you reward yourself when you meet each of your SMART goals?
Step 8: Proofread your behavior change write up. Excessive spelling/grammar/punctuation errors will result in a loss of points.