Organizational Readiness to Engage in Policy, System, and Environment Changes Supporting Positive Youth Development for Health: Case Studies from the Cooperative Extension System Framed by the Transtheoretical Model

Cooperative Extension\u27s National Framework for Health and Wellness identified Positive Youth Development for Health (PYDH) outcomes at the individual (education) and community (policy, system, and environment) change levels, calling on Extension professionals to integrate public health principles into youth development programs. However, Extension professionals may not be equipped to effectively incorporate these principles and related strategies in the youth development context. An assessment of Extension professionals’ readiness to integrate public health approaches, such as community-level change strategies, with youth program efforts suggests these professionals may lack knowledge of practical steps for including policy, system, and environment change methodology into their daily work. Recommendations framed by the transtheoretical model (TTM) to guide Extension in advancing readiness among Extension educators at the organizational level have been developed. However, context-specific examples that illustrate such approaches and show how they fit within youth development programs are lacking. This article provides concrete case examples from the Extension system illustrating readiness levels at each TTM stage. Associated recommendations and implications for supporting youth development programs to effectively engage in influencing multilevel change strategies are also provided

A journey from Cure to Care- Wellness management for healthy lifestyle: Diabetes management a case study

Smart ubiquitous computing has a vital role to avoid and indicate the preventable lifestyle-based chronic diseases. It is focusing to adopt a healthy lifestyle by converging science and technology in this digital world for improving health and quality of life. From the last decade, the development of wellness applications has supported personalization and self-quantification. These applications facilitate the users through activity tracking and monitoring, based on the raw sensory data to adopt healthy behavior. The challenge of behavior change is not only to indicate the issues but also provides step-by-step coaching and guidance at real time. The realization of behavior change theories through digital technology has revolutionized the lifestyle change in a systematic and measurable manner. We have proposed a methodology to understand the behavior for generating just-in-time intervention for adopting a healthy lifestyle. Wellness platform based behavior analysis is performed using unbiased life-log and questionnaire for qualitative assessment of behavior. Behavior stage wise intervention is provided to adapt behavior for enhancing the quality of life and boost the socio-economic conditions. Personalized education is provided to understand the importance of healthy behavior and motivate the users, whereas just-in-time context-based recommendations have supported the stage-wise adaptation of unhealthy behavior. These capabilities require status evaluation of the activities and an efficient way to portray the comprehensive index of lifestyle habits. The real focus is to correlate the primarily linked habits in appropriate proportion through healthy behavior index (HBI) for personalized wellness support services. The healthy behavior index and behavior change theories through smart technologies

Wellness Incentives: Can the Use of Financial Incentives and Penalties be Effective for Motivating Participation in Wellness Programs and Sustaining Health Behavior Modification?

Employer-based health promotion programs have been around for about four decades, but in recent years increasing attention is being given to the use of financial incentives and penalties as ways to encourage employees to become more accountable for their own health. The use of wellness incentives has been gaining traction, and employer-sponsored programs that incorporate these types of strategies have been growing rapidly. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the upcoming change to federal rules on wellness incentives is likely to drive up participation rates. However, this is not without controversy and it has raised some very important legal and ethical questions regarding the role an employer should play in managing the health of its employees, and the use of economic incentives as a mechanism to influence participation and behavior modification. A theoretical framework is used to help understand employee behavior and analyze the effectiveness of the “carrots and sticks” approach. By analyzing studies on behavioral economic-based interventions for wellness programs, I will try to answer and substantiate the hypotheses put forth in this paper

Wearable Computing for Health and Fitness: Exploring the Relationship between Data and Human Behaviour

Health and fitness wearable technology has recently advanced, making it easier for an individual to monitor their behaviours. Previously self generated data interacts with the user to motivate positive behaviour change, but issues arise when relating this to long term mention of wearable devices. Previous studies within this area are discussed. We also consider a new approach where data is used to support instead of motivate, through monitoring and logging to encourage reflection. Based on issues highlighted, we then make recommendations on the direction in which future work could be most beneficial

The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model: An Examination of Obesity Prevention Behavioral Change in Children Who Participated In The Afterschool Program Virginia Beach Let’s Move

The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model (IMB) as a foundation to design childhood obesity prevention afterschool programs. This study employed a secondary analysis of pre (n=172), post (n=170), and 1-year follow-up (n=32) evaluations of the obesity prevention afterschool program Virginia Beach Let’s Move for children ages 5-11 years. Independent variables included demographic characteristics for the participating children and their parents. Dependent variables used in this study were the IMB constructs information and motivation. Motivation was measured by the attitudes of the children and information was measured by the children’s knowledge. The overall frequency of high scores for attitudes and knowledge at post and 1-year follow-up were similar across different demographic groups. The afterschool program had a significant effect on attitudes (V = .907, F (1, 23) = 225.2, p \u3c .05) and knowledge (V = .790, F (1, 23) = 86.62, p \u3c .05) scores. Attendance had a significant effect on the improvement of test scores from pre to post test (V = .322, F (3, 23) = 3.64, p \u3c .05). Demographic variables did not directly influence knowledge or attitudes; however, demographic variables interacted to significantly influence knowledge and attitudes. Significant interactions were followed-up with univariate testing to find most influential variables. Univariate follow-up tests suggested grade, children’s gender, and attendance had a significant effect on attitudes and knowledge. The effect of the afterschool program on attitudes and knowledge remained significant at the 1-year evaluation. The IMB model explained 53% variance in healthy eating, 58% variance in physical activity, 40% variance in consumption of fruits and vegetables, and 35% variance in water consumption. Overall, this study supports using the IMB model for significant and sustainable changes of the obesity-related behaviors motivation and information. The odds of eating healthy, consuming fruits and vegetables, and physical activity increased with higher levels of knowledge. The effects of behavioral skills and parental engagement could be explored in future studies and results may further support the IMB model as an appropriate framework for afterschool obesity prevention programs in elementary schools

The Seasons of Wellbeing as an Evolutionary Map for Transpersonal Medicine

The four Seasons of Wellbeing (Discover, Transform, Awaken, and Integrate) refer to distinct rhythms, periods, and factors that influence the accessibility of an individual’s resources during the journey of life. Each season is explicitly and implicitly related to an individual’s experience, focus, and capacity for self-organizational states. Each can be used to understand, organize, and foster behavior change, positive growth, transformation, and human development. A genealogy of the seasons is described, emphasizing the empirical and theoretical foundations of Reorganizational Healing and its roots in models such as Grof ’s Systems of Condensed Experiences (or COEX Systems) and Wilber’s Integral Theory and Pre/Trans Fallacy. In the context of transpersonal medicine, the seasons offer a framework through which various levels and states associated with an individual’s growth can be mapped and utilized for personal evolution. In this context, seasons are applicable for practitioners and clients who have used transpersonal states to avoid painful emotions or difficult actions. The seasons can guide transpersonal medical clients on a path towards transpersonal being and integration of various states leading to a higher organizational baseline. As a practical tool, the seasons have pertinence in the development of “transpersonal vigilance,” a term defined in this article. The seasons offer resources to practitioners to support clients toward transpersonal being, in a reorganizationally informed or reorganizational way