Question

FOR MY 'SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE THEORIES' COURSE

Public Health Final Essay Assignment.

This essay is designed to provide an opportunity for you to attach the new concepts and constructs you’ve learning in this course to your own beliefs and experiences. The essay will be due Sunday, December 10th by 11:59 pm. In an essay format (no bullet points or incomplete sentences), write a maximum of five (5) pages (double spaced, 12 point font) addressing the following:

-Identification of one personal health behavior that you either practice, or would like to change (i.e., exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption, regular dental visits, regular physical checkups, stress reduction practices, etc.).

-Explain the role you believe that the larger “causes of the causes (social determinants)” have in shaping that behavior?

-Explain the role that community level constructs you’ve learned about in this course have on that behavior?

-Explain the role that individual level constructs you’ve learned about in this course have on that behavior?

-Discuss which constructs and levels of influence you believe had/have the strongest effect on your selected health behavior.

-Given your “analysis” of your own health behavior, what intervention might help you maintain or change your selected behavior?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. Also, a large portion of this essay is only based on personal response and self-reflection. I do not know what health habit you would like to illustrate throughout this essay and so I have picked a hypothetical cause. You will surely have to add content to the more personal questions your teacher has asked you to address.

(Answer) There have been days when school work, part-time hours, classes and social gatherings take up too much time. Although it may seem in the morning like just another busy day, the nights tend to change my opinion. Stress is perhaps more than just being busy or physically preoccupied. Stress can sometimes be a mental and emotional preoccupation that is very hard to purge from cognition.

A rational mind can easily recognise that the cause is over-exertion and the solution is rest. But, to the stressed soul, ‘stress’ is the greatest enigma. Problems often take a toll on an individual. However, a problem that one is too stressed to recognise is worse. It is rightly said that “a spider is bad but a lost spider is worse.” Being stressed is like forgetting that you know to swim when you are drowning.

The so-called “causes of the causes” or as a researcher would call it, “independent variable” are easy to blame. It is easy to blame a teacher who assigns too much homework, a boss who lacks compassion or a girl/boyfriend who doesn’t understand that you need the rest and cannot catch dinner and so on. Sometimes, the easiest targets are the people we are most close with. Our parents at home, our siblings or roommates sure are at the receiving end of a terrible mood that is the result of stress.

However, like most things in this universe, even blaming people has its own shelf-life. It would be unbecoming for a forty-something to blame their parents for their lack of confidence because they didn’t encourage one to participate in school activities more often. This is why it is pivotal to take charge of our problems and tackle them with any or all of the energy we have left. This may seem like a battle in the present but it surely is an investment made in favour of the future self.

This is where individual-level constructs usually kick in. It is often noticed that the amount of energy required to be morbidly stressed is the same as the energy to fix oneself. It then becomes only a matter of choice as to which option we pick.

One could get into the meticulous details of planning to manage a work and school schedule more optimally. Even cut down on socialising to get some rest. Perhaps a good start is controlling one’s moods and being happier so the emotions ricochet from the people we interact with.

The strongest effects on one’s behaviour can be observed when situations are most heated. Remembering pep talk in times like these often helps us to take one step at a time if not solve the problem completely. Something inspirational like “the finest gold must pass through the hottest metal,” can placate the mind for about 30 minutes or so. On the eve of the next stressed hour of a particularly bad day, another inspirational quote is needed. There are days when we may need to type the words “inspirational quotes” on our social media search box and have the page ready every 15 minutes.

(-Given your “analysis” of your own health behavior, what intervention might help you maintain or change your selected behavior?

This is the part I cannot answer as it is entirely your choice. You may change the subject matter of the essay to better fit an issue that you may have faced. If you need additional assistance, please leave a comment below.)