For the first paper, you will take information to create a personal plan for change. I encourage you to try to choose something meaningful. You will be asked to implement this plan over a 1 month period and evaluate what worked and what did not work in your second paper. Examples of possible topics include, but are not limited to changes in exercise, diet, stress management, tobacco use, alcohol use, chronic pain management, IBS management, diabetes management, or steps to reduce risk for a disease to which you are predisposed (as examined by your family history).
In this paper you will need to cite and reference the text and several outside resources as justification for all the components of your plan. Please reference at least 3 journal articles and read ahead in your textbook to review the chapter relevant to your behavior change plan. You may use the journal articles posted under the resources tabs, but please do not limit yourself to these. If you use information taken from websites, please be careful what websites you utilize. For example, drawing information from the Mayo Clinic’s or “MyPyramid.gov”s website would be appropriate, but using information from Wikipedia would not be appropriate for an academic paper. Although this is a personal plan for change, it should also be approached as a research paper. The paper should not exceed 4 pages of text plus, a reference page, and a calendar outlining, step-by-step, your plans for change. Include all of the following components in your paper.
(1) Choose 1 health-related behavior that you would personally like to change
(2) Discuss based on family history, personal history, and one’s values why this behavior is important to change.
(3) Create a 30 day calendar including plan for change (e.g. Smoking Cessation: Day 0 begin smoking only outdoors; Day 1 get patches from Doctor, smoke 20 cigarettes first day, go down 1 cigarette per day on calendar; Day 20 remove all cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays, clean house of smell; Day 21, remain busy, drink lots of water, stay away from people who smoke, avoid drinking or other triggers for smoking, do things to help manage stress, etc.)