Unit6HealthBehaviorStudyGuide.pdf

PUH 5304, Health Behavior 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VI

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

5. Examine health behavior intervention strategies.
5.1 Assess the many aspects that accompany intervention planning such as goals and objectives,

setting, community resources, and timelines.
5.2 Identify an intervention strategy that relates to intervention implementation within a community.

Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes

Learning Activity

5.1
Unit Lesson
Chapter 12
Unit VI Assignment

5.2
Unit Lesson
Chapter 12
Unit VI Assignment

Reading Assignment

Chapter 12: Translating Research to Practice: Putting “What Works” to Work

Unit Lesson

In Unit V, we addressed how theories and models such as the social cognitive theory, the health behavior
model, and the theory of planned behavior play a role in intervention planning. This unit, we will build on the
foundation of theories and models and look at how to be strategic in determining interventions. The reading
highlights the concerns that health educators should have as it relates to the design and evaluation process to
determine the successfulness of interventions for a given health behavior.

Intervention Strategizing

When a health educator is developing an intervention strategy to help with a particular health behavior, there
are a few key factors to consider: identifying the target population, selecting a setting, setting goals and
objectives, and identifying resources and a timeline. Each of these factors are a concern for health educators
when developing interventions (Powell et al., 2017).

Target population: Who are you planning the intervention for? Are there any special needs? For instance,
adolescents have special needs because they are in school during the day, so an intervention for them would
need to be after school, on the weekend, or through the school. An intervention for seniors should be held
during the day because seniors normally shy away from being out at dusk or dark. If the intervention were for
the working population, there would be better attendance in the evenings or weekends. The goal with
determining the population for the intervention is to think of alleviating any barriers that may affect most of the
population (Powell et al., 2017).

Setting: Where will the intervention be held? Is there handicap access for seniors or elevator accessibility? Is
the location easily accessible? Is there public parking? What is the room reservation process? Is the setting
outdoors, and if so, are there backup plans in case of bad weather? As the health educator, you should take
into account the best setting to meet the needs of the population that has been identified (Nilsen, 2015).

UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE

Interventions for Health Behavior

PUH 5304, Health Behavior 2

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Goals/Objectives: The health educator should be clear on the goals and objectives of the intervention
(Eldredge, Markham, Ruiter, Fernandez, Kok, & Parcel, 2016). The intervention goal is the intended behavior
outcome. This includes examples such as quitting smoking, lowering blood pressure, lowering A1C levels,
increasing food access or decreasing teen pregnancy. The objectives are the steps that will be taken to meet
the goals. Offering coaching is an objective for the goal to quit smoking. Eating a healthy diet is an objective
to reach the goal to lower blood pressure, increasing physical activity is an objective for lowering A1C levels,
adding bus routes to local grocers is an objective to increasing food access, and implementing a sex
education course for adolescents is an objective to decreasing teen pregnancy. A health educator should be
concerned with making clear and SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound).

Resources: The health educator should be concerned with resources when it comes to interventions.
The health educator has to determine staff availability to assist with the intervention, community
resources that complement the intervention, as well as funding that will support the planned intervention.
Many resources could be available for interventions such as parent volunteers, grant funds, corporate
donations, and free spaces. A successful intervention is implemented in conjunction with resources that
support the goals and objectives of the intervention (Nilsen, 2015).

Timeline: The timeline of an intervention can also be a concern for health educators (Eldredge et al.,
2016). As a health educator, setting time goals should always be a component that is considered. The
health educator has to set a time frame on how long it will take to meet goals and objectives, and often
timing is related to resource availability. For instance, if a health educator is offering a health behavior
intervention in the school setting, there is about a nine-month window to deliver the intervention because
schools recess for summer for approximately three months each year. Thus, the time it will take to market
the intervention, implement the intervention, and collect data for the intervention has to be done within the
nine months. Health educators are also concerned with the timing relating to funding for health
interventions. If a health educator receives a grant to implement a health intervention, the grant may have
its own timeframe to consider as well.

Health Professional Interview

In this unit, we interviewed Dr. Caira Boggs, PhD, MCHES to get additional insight of factors to consider when
implementing behavior change programs. Dr. Boggs is currently lead faculty for Master of Public Health
Programs at Columbia Southern University and contributes at a nonprofit hospital in the community health
and outreach department. Caira is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and certified
Intrinsic Health Coach. She holds a Doctor in Health Education from A.T. Still University, a Master of Exercise
Science in Health Science from Oakland University and a Bachelor of Science in Human Movement Science
from Bowling Green State University. Caira has worked in the health and wellness industry for the past 16
years. She is an advocate for healthy living at any age.

(Vaeenma, n.d.)

PUH 5304, Health Behavior 3

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

Click here to listen to the interview.
Click here to view the transcript.

Bringing it All Together

A health educator’s strategic process for picking interventions plays a key role in the successfulness of
behavior change. As noted in many of the models and framework applications for intervention planning,
strategizing is cyclical in nature. The evaluation process is a part of the cyclical process to highlight the
strengths of the intervention as well as the weakness, which will be covered in the next unit. It assists in
seeing what should remain and what should be tweaked before beginning the cycle all over again.

References

Eldredge, L. K. B., Markham, C. M., Ruiter, Fernandez, M. E., R. A. C., Kok, G., & Parcel, G. S. (2016).

Planning health promotion programs: An intervention mapping approach (4th ed). Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.

Nilsen, P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks. Implementation

Science, 10(1), 53. doi:10.1186/s13012-015-0242-0

Powell, B. J., Beidas, R. S., Lewis, C. C., Aarons, G. A., McMillen, J. C., Proctor, E. K., & Mandell, D. S.

(2017). Methods to improve the selection and tailoring of implementation strategies. The Journal of
Behavioral Health Services & Research, 44(2), 177–194. doi:10.1007/s11414-015-9475-6

Vaeenma. (n.d.). SMART goals (ID 85663874) [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-

photo-smart-goals-presenting-diagram-image85663874

Learning Activities (Nongraded)

Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit
them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information.

In this unit, we heard from Dr. Caira Boggs, a professional in the field of health education. As a student,
consider the importance of hearing from someone already in the field of health. What did you learn? What
could you take away from the interview and apply to your own life?

https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-111890338_1

https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-111890318_1