HPR 232 Week Four Journal – Competencies

HPR 232: Methods of Community Health Promotion Week 4 Guidance

Welcome to Week Four! This week, we will be looking at team efforts in health promotion. Working with groups of people, whether in a volunteer capacity or as a part of your staff, is a large part of health promotion activities. Throughout this week, you will learn how to facilitate support groups and other work groups to promote health behaviors. In addition, we will look at coalitions: what they are, how they work, and how to build one. Volunteers are at the heart of many health promotion activities, so it is crucial to learn how to recruit and work with them to the benefit of the entire community.

Support groups.  What are they?  According to your text, “Support groups are structured groups that focus on a specific problem, task or theme and incorporate both interpersonal and educational gains” (Bensley & Brookins-Fisher, 2009, p. 133).  There is a support group for just about anything, from injured soldiers support groups, to eating disorder support groups, to diabetes support groups, to bankruptcy support groups. 

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Can you think of different examples of support groups?  Do they fit into the definition provided in the text?  I find that the definition does not hold true for all types of support groups.  For example, some cancer support groups provide support to individuals and families in different countries and it would be very difficult to have face-to-face meetings in this situation.  The advent of the internet has made support groups more accessible and convenient for those who find face-to-face meetings inconvenient or uncomfortable.

Are you part of a support group?  How about this, are you a part of someone else’s support group/system?  Do you know that there are people who are addicted to support groups and that there are support groups for them as well?  Funny, but true.

Retrieved from http://www.optipess.com/2009/02/02/support-groups/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

But what happens when you cannot find the right support group for you? While face-to-face meetings may be inconvenient or uncomfortable, online or telephone support groups may seem impersonal and distant.

In your first discussion this week you are asked to review the qualities of a good leader in Table 6-1 on page 141 of our text. You are asked to apply the information read to starting a support group for overweight teens in a high school setting and to deliver your pitch in the high school gymnasium. Good luck :). High schoolers are a tough audience! Which support group setting do you think is appropriate for this audience? What factors will help you in making your decision? How will you segment your audience for maximum success?

Please note that your pitch/script should be a word-for-word presentation of what you would say to the teens. Think of it as a movie script or Broadway show and you have a monologue. Write the monologue that you would deliver to the teens.

Coalitions and Volunteers

Your second discussion focusses on coalitions and volunteers. Coalitions, like support groups are focused on one goal. For example, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America is focused on fighting drug use, while the National Coalition against Domestic Violence is focused on preventing domestic violence. These coalitions and others like them provide vital services in the community and are necessary for health promotion. Please review the article below written by Charlotte Tallman about the benefits of coalitions. The article was published in the Las Cruces Sun-News on August 12, 2013 and is available at: http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_23844946/results-show-coalitions-make-difference (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Many coalitions depend on volunteers to help promote their services, but on a larger scale volunteers help with anything from building houses, to helping at health fairs, to registering voters, to being members of the neighborhood watch.

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While volunteers do not get paid, their services are very important. Volunteers usually make the difficult situations where funds are limited for staffing needs less trying. Can you think of examples of volunteers in your community? Have you ever served as a volunteer?

Your discussion requires you to find a real-life coalition and explain its purpose. You are also required to describe how/if the coalition was created using the steps outlined in the text. What role do you think volunteers played in this process? How important were they to its success?

As a ‘late in the class’ pick me up, enjoy the video below “Kid President’s Pep Talk”

https://youtu.be/RwlhUcSGqgs

Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/RwlhUcSGqgs