Personal Experience on Self-Change

Explain how each of the “stages of behavior change” from the transtheoretical model of change can be applied to the health behavior.

D2- Analyse the impact on the human body of the dysfunction in relation to water balance.

Week two has been a bit of a rough week for my behavioral change project. I became sick and was stuck at home for three days this week. This caused me to have a bit of a relapse because when I am not feeling well I turn to things that comfort me. A big comfort for me is technology and I hate to admit it but I binge watched a lot of television this week and I used social media quite often. The worst part is that now that the binge has started I am having a difficult time stopping again. I am so stressed now because I missed a great deal of class and as a result I feel extremely far behind and anxious about if I can make it up successfully. Yet, all I want to do is watch Netflix and in all honesty that is all I have been doing this week. After the first week, I felt so strong (naively so) but now I only feel defeated by my own mind. That is a hard concept for me to grasp because how is it that something that feels so good, relaxing, and happy is so detrimental to my life in the areas of education, work, and relationships? I suppose though that part of the reason we do this project is to see what will make us relapse. For me and

Mariam is a 19-year-old who study medicine, she is single and lives with her family. Her main complain, was not drinking enough water. She drinks around 3 cups of water instead of drinking 8 cups, which is the standard number of cups. She failed to change this behavior for many time because of her weak Memory and full schedule. However, I found that she perceives the susceptibility and severity of the behavior by being aware that this behavior is a problem, affect her health, and can lead to

To pick up where we left off with Joe’s behavioral change, Joe has now completed 6 months of pure devotion to his study goals and habits he set for himself. Joe is at a better frame of mind with his renown commitment to his education. It is no longer a temptation when his friends ask him to play basketball and he has studying to do. “Hit me up next time, boys,” he says confidently, knowing he made the right call. Joe now finds himself in the maintenance stage. The last stage of the transtheoretical model, the maintenance stage includes the solidarity and foundation of the behavioral change. Struggle ceases to exist and the change of behavior is now intertwined in the individual’s life. This stage is an ongoing stage since there is never an extent the individual should go in achieving a positive change in their life. Once one goal is achieved, another should be pursued. Constantly setting goals and finding accountability groups will reinforce the change and exponentially enlarge the benefits of the positive change. In conclusion, the transtheoretical model is one that takes time and effort to complete, but the achievements yielded are limitless. As we saw through our example of Joe’s questionable study habits, Joe had some major obstacles to face. From the poor study habits implemented in high school, to his contemplation of whether or not to ditch his friends periodically to study brought him many obstacles in his life. However, Joe sought help from others and crutched on their support to help is case. Let us now transition to a real world application of the Trantheoretical Model of Behavior Change in my own life. A personal, real-life example will display the ease at which this model is able to be

The transtheoretical model helps explain the patient’s behavior change related to the health aspects. As per this change agent, the patient’s purposeful behavior change consists of the cognitive and the performance-based elements. The five stages of the model are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and the maintenance stage (Virginia Tech Continuing & Professional Education, n.d.).

Life changing events can change a person’s viewpoint. In the movie Crash directed by Paul Haggis, the characters are faced with life-altering situations, which ended up changing their perspective. First off LAPD Office John Ryan, who is viewed to have a bias against African-Americans, willingly risked his life for an African-American woman. Furthermore, Farhad a Persian shopkeeper, decided to react toward a devastating event, with anger, without realization of the consequences. Also Anthony, an African-American thief, chooses to save the lives of several Cambodian people. All three characters face life impacting events, which causes them to change their outlook on life.

The Transtheoretical Model of Change, a theory model of behavioral change, which has been the core for developing successful interventions to promote health behavior change. Some of their key constructs of the transtheoretical model include concepts from other theories of behavioral change. The transtheoretical model tries to describe how a person acquires positive behavior or how people modify a problem behavior. The main core of the theory lies on the Stages of Change, also among this theory, there are independent variables such as: the processes of change, outcome measures, temptation scales and the decisional balance. Furthermore, the process of change has ten cognitive and behavioral activities that facilitate the change.

The Transtheoretical Model is a theory of health behavior that suggests that behavior change is a process, not an event. There are five stages of change someone can go through while attempting to engage in positive behavior: precontemplation, no intention to act within six months; contemplation, intention to act within six months; preparation, intention to act within the next thirty days along with some behavioral steps; action, changed behavior for less than six months, maintenance, changed behavior for more than six months; termination, end of the behavior. These stages are not linear, so an individual can move up and down the stages of change indiscriminately.

One of the most commonly used health theories in explaining and predicting health behaviors is the Health Belief Model (HBM). It was created to help better understand why people choose to implement a change to their lifestyle. The Transtheoretical Model, also known as the stages of change was created to explain the person’s ability to make the change. It also looks at a person’s readiness to take action or not. These behavior theories apply to my specific health change because it will help me identify the various factors and barriers that will allow me to overcome and make a change in my life.

People sometimes have indisposed behaviors that can affect their lives. However, people can successfully change these behaviors by following some stages that the transtheoretical model provides. The transtheoretical model of behavior change is the most powerful theory that has been discovered for evolving unhealthy habit. Therefore, this theory is flexible of any ill-behavior that needs to be changed. Traditionally, behavior change was often construed as an event, such as quitting smoking, drinking, or overeating. The transtheoretical model recognizes evolution as a process that unfolds over time, involving progress through a series of stages (1). The transtheoretical model provides five important stages of changing which are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.

Two years ago, on the last day of sixth grade, I was a happy-go-lucky kid who had no idea that my fate would turn my world around. On the last day of school, I say my goodbyes and head for my bus. I scan the room for an empty seat when I spot Melissa. Sixth grade was her first year at Bedminster. She seemed pretty boring, so I twiddled my thumbs for a while. However, sitting next to her made me think about what it would be like to move. To simply drop everything, leave your friends, neighbors, and the comfort of your hometown, and move. Melissa seems to be coping well, she made many friends and she seems like a happy girl. For me, even just the topic of moving away from Bedminster had been an utter nightmare. I bring my attention back to Melissa and she smiles at me and says five words that have stuck with me to this day. “Change can be good sometimes.” That day was the last day of sixth grade, and little did I know, the rest of the

In to order to create an effective improvement plan towards my health, I must identify the behavior-specific cognitions within my daily routine and modify them accordingly to optimize my commitment towards changing these bad habits. The perceived barrier which prevents me from making healthier,

Like many, I am terrified of change. This is funny because, as being a part of a military family, change is inevitable. Every time we moved, there was change. Change in where I lived, and who my friends were, even circumstances changed. But no matter how many times we have moved, I have not gotten used to the change that occurs. Even though change is necessary for growth I am not alone in my fear of change. Whether it's a new war or sickness, a change in leaders, or different people in a location. Throughout history people have been afraid of change and more specifically the unknown; unknown people, and unknown situations. Although change is inevitable we are afraid of it perhaps it is because it is not change that we are afraid of but rather the unknown that we are afraid of.

Changing a behavior can be extremely difficult, however by utilizing and understanding the trans-therotical model of change, I was able to direct myself on the right path. The trans-theoretical model was developed by Prochaska and Diclemente in the 1970’s, assesses an individual’s readiness to act on a new healthier behavior, and provides concepts, strategies and methods from a range of theories to guide the individual through the stages of change. Briefly, there are five stages of change including, pre-contemplation ( no interest in changing behavior), contemplation ( considering change), preparation