Attached you will find Assignment 2 Stages of Change Theory and past student example that received full credit. PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
When you are ready to submit the assignment, click on the tab that states ” Assignment 2″ and then click on ” Browse My Computer” to attach your assignment and upload.
Applying the Stages of Change Theory
Write a two-page double spaced short story about a person who engages in a negative health behavior such as smoking, unprotected sex, eating fast food, excessive alcohol. In your story, this person will go through the Stages of Change to modify/improve this negative behavior. Incorporate the following into your story: 1) All five stages of the Transtheoretical Theory (“Stages of Change” theory); and 2) an interaction with a health educator (not a medical doctor, dentist, etc.)
Your story must include all five stages of change (Highlight each stage in YELLOW in your story):
____ Precontemplation (“Never”)
____ Contemplation (“Some day”)
____ Preparation (“Soon”)
____ Action (“Now”)
____ Maintenance (“Forever”)
INTERACTION WITH A HEALTH EDUCATOR ( NOT A DOCTOR, NURSE, SOCIAL WORKER): ____ (Highlight this in
BLUE in your story)
After preparing your story, go back and check off each concept above to make sure they are all present in your story.
You will be graded on the presence of the above concepts in your story as well as the details and creativity of your story. I’m looking forward to reading it!
Past Student Sample
Assignment 2: “Stages of Change” Theory
John Snow has been around alcohol his entire life. His father was an alcoholic and his father before him. He had always to himself that he would be different but when his mother died for him everything changed. He was only 22 years old and thought himself to be too young to be both fatherless and motherless. He had never actually thought of the consequences of drinking but for him it was a way to be free without the stressors of life. His sisters have told him that this is not a solution to his problem and that he has to deal with the loss of his mother. John does not believe that he has an alcohol problem and doesn’t think that he needs to stop drinking.
Over the years John has developed type 2 diabetes. This is something that can be managed but because of his drinking problem his blood sugar drops below normal very frequently. His doctor tells him that this is an issue and he should try to quit or even limit his drinking. He knows of the risks but says that he will quit someday just not today.
John has been sick for a while and now realizes that if he doesn’t stop drinking soon it will eventually kill him. Easier said than done. He is addicted but every day he tells himself “I will quit soon, very soon.”
His children have appealed to him. They have tried their best to get him to quit, with no success. He is expecting his first grandchild which his daughter wants to name after him. He now feels responsibility for this child and wants to live long enough to help them. He is too embarrassed to ask his kids for help and so he visits the local clinic to seek the help of a health educator.
“Hello John. How can I help you today?”
“It has taken me year to finally accept that I have a problem that I need help with, and I am ashamed to ask my kids for help.”
“What do you think is your problem?”
“I think I am an alcoholic and I wanted to know if you could help me make a plan to quit.”
The health educator helped John to find a rehab center that he could not only afford but that would take him as an inpatient. He tells his children his plan and checks himself in the next week. It has been a few months since John has been sober. He knows that his sobriety is a fragile thing and that he still needs support and so he joins an AA group that meets twice a week so that he can maintain his sobriety and live long enough to not only meet his first grandchild but be around for the others to come. John now realizes that he is nothing like his father and his father before. They both died alcoholics and he is beating it day by day.
