Public Health

Writing 3:

Reflective Practice Assignment

Assessment Title

Reflective journal

Task Description

In Assessment 3, you will write a reflective journal to chronicle your reflections, insights, and ongoing development of knowledge and skills regarding the implementation of the self-administered positive psychology intervention for Assessment 2.

You will produce two reflective practice journal entries (600 words each, +/- 10%) documenting:

· your growing understanding of how to design, implement, and evaluate positive psychology interventions in an applied setting. This will include personal reflection on why the specific positive psychology intervention was expected to be useful to your own personal or work circumstances.

· evaluation of changes in your perceptions, beliefs, and behaviour during the self-administered positive psychology intervention. What have you noticed about yourself, your emotions, relationships, or other aspects of your wellbeing since undertaking the intervention?

· personal reflections on the barriers and enablers your experienced in completing a self-administered positive psychology intervention.

· reflections of how might understanding of barriers and enablers faced inform your use of the intervention with others (e.g., clients) in the future?

These two reflective journal entries should discuss your personal experiences of the intervention, rather than reflections on the group work experience. It is expected that you will relate your experiences (e.g., challenges, progress, outcomes) to what the positive psychology literature tells us about the particular intervention and, more generally, processes of change.

While you will submit both journal entries at the same time, it is recommended that the first be written within the first 2 weeks of beginning your intervention and the second be written at the end of the intervention/shortly after completion of the intervention.

Maximum word count: 600 words (+/- 10%) per entry. This word limit includes in-text citations but excludes any reference section. Meeting the word count is included as a part of the marking criteria in your marking rubric on Moodle. See the Psychology Word Count Information document on Moodle for a rationale for using this type of word limit restriction.

Further task details will be available on the unit Moodle site.

Assessment Criteria

You will be assessed on:

· Understanding of design, implementation, and evaluation of applied interventions

· Evaluation of changes in perceptions, beliefs, and behaviour during the self-administered intervention

· Reflection on progress and challenges in implementing the self-administered intervention

· Reflection of how self-administered intervention experiences might inform future use of the intervention with others

· Quality of your written communication, including correct APA referencing and adherence to word count.

Your use of appropriate, peer-reviewed and reputable sources will be assessed across all marking criteria.

Detailed information regarding assessment requirements and criteria for assessment can be found in the Unit and Assessment Guide on Moodle.

Referencing Style

· American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)

**Use references or write based in Australia (course: Public Health)

Writing 1:

Topic: Waste Management in a community of your choice (Melbourne, Australia)

#Need to write both part 1 & part 2.

Part 1: (2000 words).

For your chosen topic, you will need to research the scholarly literature as well as information available from organizations like the AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) and other government and non-government agencies. Please keep in mind that this case study must relate only and specifically to a community of your choice, so you will need to limit your literature to material that addresses the situation here. Your case study must have the following sections: 1)  Introduction -- outlines the issue and its magnitude in the community of your choice; 2)  Population at Risk – describes the specific segments of the population that are most affected (you will need to consider age, gender, linguistic/cultural background, place of residence, occupational category, and so forth, but keep in mind that not all of these categories will be relevant for every issue above and you may need to consider other categories. It is recommended that you begin with age and then determine what other characteristics contribute to risk.); 3)  Planning Initiatives – describes the specific characteristics of the risk groups identified that would be useful in planning initiatives to address the issue and how health promotion activities could be tailored to the risk groups; 4)  Review of Existing Initiatives – discusses and evaluates existing initiatives reported in the literature to address the issue, including your own view on why they were or were not successful. This section must also note the organizations or agencies involved in addressing the issue, including whether these are government bodies, NGOs, private organizations, and so forth.

Part 2: (2000 words).

If you are completing the second part of the case study (that is, you are enrolled in PBHL10 and have successfully completed PBHL09), you will be continuing the case study you submitted for assessment in PBHL09. You will work on three additional sections that will continue the development of your chosen case topic. These sections are: 1)  A Systems Approach to the Case -- you will analyze your topic as a system highlighting the interrelationships between the population at risk, other stakeholders, and the public health establishment and the possible impacts on various elements of the system based on the initiatives you described in the first part of the case study; 2)  Risks and Advantages associated with possible initiatives to address the topic – discusses are range of risks (health-related and other kinds of risk) to the affected population as well as other stakeholders, including government, that might arise from initiatives chosen to address the topic and also the advantages to these groups from those same initiatives;and 3)  Expert Assessment – considers the possible measures to address the topic (including initiatives actually used in real life as well as other possible choices that are/were not used) and give YOUR assessment of the best way to address the problem using a Public Health approach. This section must draw on your systems analysis and must take a clear Public Health perspective. As part of this, you must explain your reasoning for your position.

Format

This assignment must be written in a formal, academic style (not first person) and must be fully referenced. Harvard referencing is preferred for this unit. If you need help with referencing, please consult the ALC or Library as soon as possible. You case study must have in text references and a reference list that contains all sources used and nothing that is not cited in the text.

Writing 3 EXAMPLE: OF JOURNAL ENTRY 1 AND 2

Journal entry 1

While undertaking preliminary discussions as a group we came to realise there were two factors having a large impact on our lives. These were stress and busyness. This finding for our group correlated highly with what has been publicised in the media many times before, which is between work, family, hobbies and our social lives, we (Australians) are leading busier, stressful and faster lifestyles than ever before (Strazdins & Loughrey, 2007; Wells, 2019). We knew as a group any intervention we chose would need to be time efficient and easy to administer so as to not add anymore to our already on the go and busy lives.

Over the years, research has suggested Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) can be effective in increasing and enhancing wellbeing, as well as decreasing depressive symptoms (Bolier et al, 2013; Sin & Lyubomirsky 2009). Mindfulness is both a widely and commonly implemented Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI). While there are a variety of mindfulness based interventions which can be implemented either formally (mediation, yoga, breathe-work) or informally (colouring, day to day activities), all share the common aim of allowing the participant to mindfully pay “attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” (Black, 2011; Zhang et al, 2021).

After completing preliminary research and discussions we decided as a group to choose mindful colouring thus we have now, at the time of writing this journal, completed approximately 1.5 weeks of our 3 week intervention. We thought choosing mindful colouring would keep the intervention simple enough for us to administer at home (we didn’t need anything that wasn’t already in our possessions; paper and pencils) as well as not adding extra stress into our already busy lives. As discovered through research there are many known benefits of implementing a mindful colouring intervention. While ease, accessibility and convenience are three of those known benefits, providing a person with a sense of calmness and ease, a sense of purpose and improving levels of stress and anxiety are all benefits which cannot be overlooked (Carruthers and Hood, 2011; Czerwinski, et al. 2020; Dresler & Perera, 2019).

As stated above we are now in the middle of our intervention. While I feel like there have been times where I have been able to use mindful colouring to destress before going to bed, I have seen in myself no significant changes to what our group was aiming to achieve in implementing the intervention interns of a reduction in my stress and anxiety. I have noticed however when colouring at times I have been frustrated with the lack of colouring I have achieved in our agreed upon time (10 minutes) and the annoyance in needing to colour smaller areas of a picture, this clearly going against what it is we are setting out to achieve in terms of increasing our mindfulness and decreasing our stress.

I cannot argue the mindful colouring intervention can be fun and simplistic to do and costs nothing if you have all the necessary materials to get started. While I, at this time, don’t feel the intervention is or will be beneficial to me, I have enjoyed at times participating in the intervention and used in the right way for the right people, I would recommend it. As I am currently a school teacher the known benefits mindful colouring has for school students is something which cannot be ignored, and I believe this will be something I will implement into my practice for term four and beyond. I am eager to see where the next 1.5 weeks goes and to see whether undertaking the intervention has in fact impacted my pre-test results in any way. 

References

Black, D. S. (2011). A brief definition of mindfulness.  Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(2), 109.  http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.362.6829&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Boiler, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G.J., Riper, H., Smit, F., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled studies.  BMC Public Health, 13(119).  https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-119

Carruthers, C. P., & Hood, C. D. (2011). Mindfulness and well-being: Implications for TR practice.  Therapeutic Recreation Journal 45(3), 171–189.

Czerwinski, N. Egan, H. Cook, A. & Mantzio, M. (2020). Teachers and mindful colouring to tackle burnout and increase mindfulness, resiliency and wellbeing.  Contemporary School of Psychology.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-020-00279-9

Dresler, E. and Perera, P. (2019). ‘Doing mindful colouring’: just a leisure activity or something more?  Leisure Studies 38(6), 862-874  https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2019.1583765

Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: A practice-friendly meta-analysis.  Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(5), 467-487.  http://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20593

Strazdins, L., & Loughrey, B. (2007). Too busy: why time is a health and environmental problem.  NSW Public Health Bulletin, 18, 11-12.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18093462/

Wells, R. (2019, June 04). We’re so addicted to being busy, Australians are becoming ‘rest resistant’.  The Sydney Morning Herald.  https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/we-re-so-addicted-to-being-busy-australians-are-becoming-rest-resistant-20190602-p51tqx.html

Zhang, W., Lee, E. K. P., Mak, E. C. W., Ho, C. Y., & Wong, S. Y. S. (2021). Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review.  British Medical Bulletin, 138(1), 41-57.  https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldab005

Journal entry 2

This final reflection is written nearly 2 weeks post mindful colouring intervention. As stated in my previous reflection, we (Australians) pride ourselves on how much we work, often using this as a way to ‘do’ rather than give ourselves the opportunity to just ‘be’ with ourselves, our minds, our body’s, our thoughts and feelings. In my own therapy my therapist uses a model called Internal Family Systems (IFS), a model founded by Richard Schwartz which was developed as an approach after ‘listening to people in therapy speak about inner parts within themselves’ (GoodTherapy, 2018). Within applying and using this model, I have learnt we all have a ‘SELF’ but many parts which are separated into three distinct types, managers, firefighters and exiles. Between working full time, studying and running two business I am aware, work is one of my ‘firefighters’, used as a way to distract ‘the mind when exiles break free from suppression… and protect the consciousness from feeling the pain’ associated with the exiles (GoodTherapy, 2018). Because of this, I found trying to be with myself for the ten minutes exceptionally hard at times, as it gave me more time to be with the thoughts and feelings I work hard to keep exiled.

I am absolutely proud of myself for undertaking and completing the intervention. For me personally, I have always found implementing something therapeutic or ‘un-structured’ to be a hard task and have often fallen off the wagon early when doing something, especially when it is ‘unsupported’ and self-administered. I went into this self-administered PPI skeptical it would have no impact on post-test scores or life as well as with the thought of me simply not maintaining the ten minutes of mindful colouring a day. To my surprise and through much frustration and annoyance at times, I managed to colour every day despite whether or not I wanted to. I have a big fear of failing and disappointing others, and as I knew this was a group assessment this certainly played into ensuring me continuing to implement and finish the intervention. I did find it difficult at times to maintain the ten minutes due to increased fluctuations with my mental health and often wonder how a self-administered intervention like this would work for those with long-standing mental illnesses or health issues, for an extended period of time and the benefits of this, as it is often found people with long standing mental illness are more difficult to engage in ongoing treatment or interventions and have high dropout rates (Dixon, Holoshitz & Nossel, 2016).

As first thought, my post-test results did not change significantly at the end of the implementation of the self-administered intervention. Surprisingly my anxiety levels on my post-test scores were significantly higher than what they originally were. My results did not support our hypothesis/aim or support findings from various studies as mentioned in journal one. I did notice however, during the intervention (specifically when colouring) I was able to focus on only one intrusive thought and follow the thought the whole way through rather than bouncing from intrusive thought to intrusive thought which is what I often do.

Unfortunately the majority of studies completed on mindful colouring involve its affects on stress and anxiety. In the future, more studies focusing on depression need to be considered/administered as we found our results (as a group) to be more inline with its impact on depression as opposed to anxiety and stress. Even though I don’t feel I had success with the implantation of the mindful colouring intervention, I still feel the intervention used at the right time on the right person would be beneficial and show positive results correlating to those found in previous studies.

References

Dixon, L. B., Holoshitz, Y., & Nossel, I. (2016). Treatment engagement of individuals experience mental illness: review and update.  World Psychiatry, 15(1), 13-20.  http://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20306

GoodTherapy. (2018).  Internal Family Systems.  https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/internal-family-systems-therapy