Personal Wellness Project
60 Points Total
DUE DATE: 6/23/16
Introduction: This project is a personal study of change and continual improvement.
The objective is to identify a personal pattern which can be improved and apply the
self-care ideas and skills from this course (and from other resources). You need to
determine your goal, make and implement an action plan and strategize ways you
can maintain change. One aspect of the project is to keep track of your observations
of your change process, noting effective and ineffective strategies and other insights.
The final product will be a review of related literature on your specific targeted
change, a report of the process, including the goal, action plan and synopsis of the
process, a discussion of results and conclusion, reference sheet and appendix
(copies of your logs/charts/journal, observations and any additional relevant
material).
Instructions: Please see the deadlines towards the end of this document; I will be
collecting sections of your final project throughout the quarter. I will return them
before the final deadline. You will then include them in your final product; be sure
to make any necessary changes. Each of the sections, along with the final product
needs to be typed, double-spaced, 12-font and edited. Your reference page needs to
be in APA format. Be sure to staple or put your final product in a folder. Be sure
your paper is edited for grammar, sentence structure, spelling; otherwise I will
deduct points.
Elements of Final Paper
1. Introduction (2 pages):
A. Identify the pattern you want to change
i. Describe the basic goal of what you are working on in a sentence or two.
B. Provide Background Research on Topic
i. Review the literature. What is known about this issue? What is the best
current understanding? You can write about prevalence, causes,
treatments, consequences, with an emphasis on solutions/interventions.
This should be a critical review of the topic, including 3+ references from
scholarly sources (i.e., published journals and books).
2. Define Desired State (1 page)
A. General Description
i. Describe your desired state. What do you plan to achieve? List what the
new pattern will look like, what it will entail, how you/your life will be
different. This is a vision statement of your future self in relation to this
change.
B. Motivation/Values
i. Describe your motivation for making this change. If you have a clear
personal interest in making a change you are more likely to be successful.
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Be specific. State the anticipated potential benefits to be gained from
making this change in your life (possibly in terms of person, behaviors,
environments).
a. For example, if your goal is to drink less alcohol, your person factors
might entail positive self-talk or managing emotions such as anxiety
and stress better; your behavior would be drinking less alcohol and
perhaps replacing alcohol with a healthier behavior (such as
exercising), and the environments might include the people or
situations that support your happiness and well-being.
3. Assess Current State/Pattern (1 page)
A. Do an assessment of the Current State (baseline week).
i. Observe the pattern/process you are targeting. Do not intervene at this
point, but merely observe and record it, as it is, the current state of affairs.
If your project is related to eating healthier, for example, then observe and
record your eating habits (what you eat, how much, when, etc.) for a week.
Keep a log or a journal. The more information you have the more effective
you will be in coming up with a productive change strategy. See if you can
notice any root causes of the problem, where it is from, what maintains it,
what precipitates it. Describe current SELF EFFICACY and OUTCOME
EXPECTANCY.
B. Look at the current issue in terms of Person – Behavior Environment factors.
i. What is your pattern? It would be good to actually write a specific
paragraph for each of these aspects of the issue as appropriate. Person –
what goes on inside of your head/body/heart; what are the related
behaviors (both active/inactive, positive/negative); what are the related
environments (social, physical, biological).
C. Describe how you kept track of your observations.
i. Did you use a journal/diary, a table, or other suitable means of keeping
accurate information on a regular basis? Be mindful as you go through your
day to notice when the pattern emerges, and what is going on
inside/outside/in-between.
4. Describe Proposed Solution/Intervention (1-2 pages)
A. Description of Possible Solutions
i. Describe the solutions/steps that could be taken to modify the specific
issue you are working on. If there is any evidence from the literature about
any specific solutions describe that (½-1 page).
B. Describe what steps will be needed to change the old pattern and
instill a new one.
i. What shifts in life will be required to make the new pattern a reality
(commitments, motivation, resources, attitudes, behaviors, environments).
ii. Is there a sequence that must be followed, or smaller steps that can be
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taken first? What are some SMALL STEPS you can use to increase your
self-efficacy/skill with this? Describe any RESOURCES you can use (such
as, social support, self-care strategies, research) to help you
make a change (½-1 page).
C. List Strategies Considered
i. Keep track of what strategies are working, consider why or why not,
change as needed, improve them when possible. What is an alternative that
would work even better? (Include in final paper-½-1 page)
D. Description of Chosen Solution and Rationale
i. Describe the specific solution(s)/strategies you have chosen to limit the
old pattern and to cultivate and maintain the new pattern. For example, if
you were quitting smoking you would: leave cigarettes at home, carry
alternative items to eat instead of smoke (like carrot sticks), keep a list of
reasons for quitting close at hand, etc. The strategies should ideally be
based on the previous step, Assessment of Current State, so they
reflect/match your specific pattern of behavior (Include in final paper- ½-1
page).
5. Implement Solution/Intervention & Track (1 page)
A. Observations - Implementation of Solutions
i. These strategies represent the SOLUTION SPACE, the things you do to
disrupt the old pattern, integrate new patterns, and then maintain them over
time. Tracking how it is going is the FEEDBACK element, to determine if you
are on track for effective change. Describe how your feedback affected your
use of a particular strategy – decision to continue, modify, stop.
a. Implement proposed solutions, collect data on effects and adjust
solutions as needed.
B. Coping Strategies & Rewards
i. Describe how you dealt with stress as part of managing change.
a. Describe what methods you used, what helped or not, why, what you did
as an alternative. What rewards (if any) did you use for motivation?
6. Conclusion- Lessons Learned (1-2 pages)
A. Results
i. What did you learn about yourself, your goal (new behavior), personal
change, and life in relation to stress, your long-term vision, human nature
and other insights? What worked, what did not, why, why not? What would
you do differently or the same the next time?
7. References (1 page)
A. Provide a minimum of 3 references that were used for the background
(introduction) section of the paper.
8. Monitoring Logs/Charts/Journal (as appendix - 1+ pages)
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A. The monitoring log/chart/journal is the way you kept track of your
process and progress. Provide copies of your process monitoring
logs/charts/journal complete with recorded data.
9. Include sections you turned in and that I graded (as appendix).
Helpful Links
Resource for how to write a literature review:
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html
APA format: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/
De Anza library databases for scholarly journals/books:
http://www.deanza.edu/library/articledata.html
Due Dates
1) Identify the pattern you want to change (describe the basic goal of what you
are working on in a sentence or two). DUE: 4/27/16
2) Reference sheet with a minimum of 3 scholarly sources in APA format with a
summary of the findings. DUE: 5/4/16
3) Desired State (see above description). DUE: 5/11/16
4) Baseline Week: observe and record pattern as it is. Record the week of 5/1219/16
5) Turn in a copy of your baseline chart/log/journal with observations. See
assessment description above. DUE: 5/23/16
6) Implement solution/intervention and track progress: 5/20/16-6/17/16 (4
weeks)
7) Proposed solutions (Part A & B Only). See description above. DUE: 5/25/16
8) Introduction. See description above (be sure to include background research
& cite references). DUE: 6/9/16
9) Final Project DUE: No later than 6/23/16 (same day as final)
**I will not accept late papers (NO e-mailed papers; you must turn in a
hard copy).
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Final Product
(What your final paper should include)
1) A Title Page (the title of your paper, your name, the course, the date)
2) Page numbers at the bottom of each page
3) Headings for: Introduction; Desired State (General description,
Motivation/Values); Current State (Assessment of baseline week, Pattern,
Tracking); Proposed Solutions (Description, Steps to change old pattern,
Strategies considered, Chosen Solution and Rationale); Implementation of
Solution/Intervention (Observations, Coping Strategies and Rewards);
Conclusion (Results, Lessons Learned); References; Appendices
4) Transitions between paragraphs (so that your paper flows well)
5) Use sections that you turned in (if I did not make edits or suggestions, you
can copy and paste these sections into your final paper; otherwise make
necessary changes before including in your final paper).
6) Be sure to include research citations (author, year) in your introduction and
anywhere else you used research.
7) A reference sheet (without summaries)
8) Copies of Monitoring Logs (baseline and implementation weeks)
9) The graded sections you turned in and I returned (with my comments)
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Possible Topics
(These are just some ideas; choose something that is personally meaningful
to you)
Emotional literacy/Emotional/Self regulation
Compassion (self/others)
Loving-kindness
Depression
Anxiety (Social, Generalized, Panic attacks, OCD)
Stress
Sleep difficulties (such as insomnia)/Sleep hygiene
Pain
Eating habits/issues
Weight loss
Exercise
Alcohol/nicotine/other drugs
Procrastination
Happiness/Well-being
Self-esteem
Self-efficacy
Communication
Nail biting
Shyness
Assertiveness
Defense mechanisms
Coping
Possible Self-Care Strategies (Solution/Interventions)
(Again not an extensive list; just some ideas)
Autogenic Training
Meditation (Mindfulness/other)
Writing to Heal (Pennebaker—journal writing)
Practicing Gratitude
Imagery and/or self-hypnosis
Tracking and changing negative thoughts/emotions/behaviors
Priming
Mindful awareness
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Category
Description of
Excellent Good Acceptable Poor
Points
Expectation
Introduction
Describes the
13.5-19
basic goal.
12-
10.5-11
1-10
13
Provides relevant
background
research (3+
references; 2
pages).
Desired State
Described desired
5
4
3
1-2
5
4
3
1-2
9-10
8
6-7
1-5
state. Described
future self.
Described
motivation for
making change
(person,
behaviors,
environ.). (1
page).
Assessment of Current
Recorded baseline
State
week. Described
root causes and
self-efficacy &
outcome
expectancy.
Identified
pattern.
Described how
monitored (1-2
pages).
Proposed
Described possible
Solutions/Intervention
solutions. Listed
strategies
considered.
Described chosen
solution/rationale.
7
Described steps
needed to change
(1-2 pages).
Implementation of
Implemented
Solution/Intervention &
solutions,
Track
collected data &
5
4
3
1-2
9-10
8
6-7
1-5
5
4
3
1-2
5
4
3
1-2
adjusted when
needed. Described
coping strategies
& rewards (1
page).
Conclusion
Results (1-2
pages).
References/Organization/ At least 3 &
Mechanics
properly cited.
Monitoring logs
Both baseline &
change weeks
Personal Wellness Project Scoring Rubric (60 points total)
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