My Health Journal

This week’s course content focuses on the meaning of health and the determinants of health. It is appropriate then, at the start of your program of study, to turn the lens on yourself. Building a better, healthier life is integral to your own well being, as well as to being a role model for others as you work within the health care field.

Throughout this course you will post entries to a health journal. The journal is designed to provide an opportunity for you to personalize course content and consider steps that you can take to improve your own health and well-being. You will submit your summary each week for your Instructor to review.

To begin, select an environmental, occupational, or behavioral change that you would like to make or focus on over the next six weeks.

Write a ½-1 page journal entry that addresses the following:

• After reviewing the readings about the Dimensions of Wellness, explain what dimension of your wellness do you feel is the most out of balance? How so?

• Construct a 1-sentence goal statement related to a health behavior that falls within this dimension of wellness or dimensions (if it overlaps).

  Example: “In order to improve my emotional and physical health, my behavioral goal is to get more sleep by going to bed an hour earlier each night.”

• What specific steps (2-3) will you take to work toward this health behavior goal by the end of this course?

  Example: “In order to get an additional hour of sleep each night, I will need to eat earlier in the evening and start my course work earlier. I also have a tendency to procrastinate, which means I don’t start my course work until 8 or 9 at night. I need to eat earlier, start on my home work by 6, and then I can get to bed no later than 10:00 pm.”

• What are the health benefits to changing this behavior?

  Example: “By getting more sleep, I’ll have more energy to get through the day, and my mood will likely improve. I think it will improve my emotional health, too, because I’ll be more rested to deal with stressful situations, and I won’t have to panic the night before my assignments are due because I won’t be procrastinating. I may actually do better in my classes, too, because I won’t be trying to write assignments with one eye!”

• Required Resources

  Media
  

  • Course Media: Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). Personal Health and Wellness: Dimensions of Health Wheel [Multimedia], Baltimore, MD: Author.

  
  Readings

  • Course Introduction
    
  • Article: Montague, J., & Frank, B. (2007, July/August). Creating whole-person wellness. Assisted Living Consult, 3(4), 14–20. Retrieved fromhttp://www.assistedlivingconsult.com/issues/03-04/alc78-Wellness-719.pdf
    
  • Article: Hettler, B. (1976). The Six Dimensions of Wellness Model. National Wellness Institute. Retrieved fromhttp://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nationalwellness.org/resource/resmgr/docs/sixdimensionsfactsheet.pdf
    
  • Article: Smith, B. J., Tang, K. C., & Nutbeam, D. (2006). WHO health promotion glossary: new terms. Health Promotion International Advance Access, 21(4), 340–3 45. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/about/HP%20Glossay%20in%20HPI.pdf
    
  • Article: World Health Organization. (2009). Milestones in health promotion: statements from global conferences (pp. 1–5). Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/milestones.pdf
    
  • Glossary: World Health Organization. (1998). Health promotion glossary. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Retrieved fromhttp://www.who.int/healthpromotion/about/HPR%20Glossary%201998.pdf
  • Video: Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Concepts of health promotion: What do we mean by health? Baltimore, MD: Author.
    
    Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 7 minutes.In this media, Dr. David Gibson, Professor Emeritus of University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Dr. Peter Beilenson, Health Officer of Howard County, Maryland, and Dr. Marianne Shaughnessy, Associate Professor of the School of Nursing at the University of Maryland, discuss their perceptions about the meaning of health. Dr. Beilenson also explains the difference between health, health care, and medical care and Dr. Shaughnessy expands on his discussion. To conclude the video, Dr. Gibson presents a brief history of health and he and Dr. Shaughnessy describe the concept of the dimensions of health.