BHE418 Health Behavior (2021AUG30FT-1)

Grant Sheely posted Oct 18, 2021 5:31 PM
 
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Good Evening all
I apologize for the late post.
              Evaluation in often the second to last step in most process improvement or problem-solving procedures, lean six sigma, scientific method, problem solving, etc.  This step allows the initiator or team to see what is working and what can be improve to fine tune a program to its best possible outcome.  Evaluating a program is especially important when the process is being developed for use by more than just one site or program.  Its bad business to give a customer or collogue a program that hasnt been full tested.     One of the drawbacks to this step, and often why it is rushed or overlooked completely, is that it can reveal too many variables that were overlooked during the roll out or development phase.  When this happens, it can push the development back to the roll out or analyzation phase or further if too many problems are found during the evaluation.    When several of my airman were asked to create an alternate training program for our second phase x-ray students, we found that there were several variables that they had not considered.  In their rush to push out the request product they had failed to take in to account the differences in initial training, understanding of the progress being tracked, and the lack of buy-in prior to the roll out among others lead to us returning to the step five of the eight step problem solving method, develop an action plan (uiowa.edu, n.d.).  Armed with the knowledge gained from the initial development, and more involvement from NCO with more program development training, they were able to identify the weak points and plan for them accordingly.  Which lead to improvement at not only our clinical training site, but the process was adopted by other sites as well.  What was initially seen as a setback after they evaluated the program turned out to be quite useful.  As it allowed them to learn from their previous mistakes and create a better program.
                A comprehensive strategy is one that is all encompassing.  For stop smoking campaigns this means coming at the problem for multiple angles.  Some smokers may not care about the health of those around them or what smoking does to them, but an increased cost may cause them to reconsider how important the habit is to them.  As a former smoker, the realization that smoking was going to reduce the number of years I had with my family, the impact on my career (PT tests are hard enough when youre not gasping for air on a 1.5-mile run), the constantly increasing cost, and being able to taste food again all played a role in my decision to quit.  One thing that most programs dont mention is that increasing fitness when you are first going though the withdrawals can help lessen the effects (smokefree.gov, n.d.). It also helps reduce the weight gain as most quitting smokers use unhealthy snacks to fill the void.  Another added benefit is that the increased fitness can help your body recover from the damage quicker, as the toxins are removed by sweat, it makes the health stronger and removes the build up from the lungs.   By bringing several reasons and options to the table it can make the decision to quit smoking easier.    
 
Reference
Smokefree, gov, (n.d.), How Smoking Affects Your Workout, 
uiowa.edu, (n.d.).  8-Step Problem Solving Process,