Final Project

Final Project Guidelines

For your Final Project, you will write a 16–20 page program proposal for a women’s health issue. Your program should be targeted at a particular developmental life stage in girls or women. In this proposal you apply theoretical knowledge explored in the course and develop your skills in curriculum design for Health Psychology related issues.

To begin, pick a developmental life stage and health related issue that interests you. Develop a proposal for a six-week program (that meets once per week) to address the issue for girls or women. Use APA format and scholarly citations and references.

Your program proposal must include the following items:

· Need for the Program. Describe the program, your title for your program, the target population, and the need that the program addresses. Provide statistics, citations, and references supporting the need for the program. (3–4 pages)

· Theoretical rationale. Describe how the program is supported by at least two of the theories examined in this course. (3–4 pages)

· Program curriculum. Develop the curriculum for the program, outlining the key issues that will be addressed, learning objectives, at least three activities to reinforce the issues, and age appropriate resources (such as books or web sites) for your population. (8–10 pages)

· Marketing brochure. Develop a two-page brochure to market your program. (Use a Microsoft Word brochure template to develop your brochure.) (2 pages)

Your Final Project will be graded on a 100-point scale and is worth 32.5% of your final grade.

The Final Project is due by Day 7 of Week 10. Although the Final Project is not due until Week 10, you should become familiar with the project requirements and have them in mind as you proceed through the course. Many of the Discussions and Application Assignments relate to and can be of use to your Final Project.   The Final Project will be evaluated according to the Assignment and Final Project Rubric located in the Course Info area. Be sure that the Final Project is written using APA format.  Information on scholarly writing may be found in the APA Manual and at the Walden Writing Centerwebsite.

Week 8: Adulthood: Disability

Introduction

Consider for a moment what a woman’s life would be like if she had a major disability such as blindness, deafness, or a physical disability. What accommodations would she need to consider when shopping, house cleaning, caring for children, or getting to work? Though there are legal safeguards in place to protect the rights of Americans with disabilities, the disabilities can still have far ranging impacts on all aspects of life for those living with them.

As an example, consider Pamela, who became deaf as an adult. She functions well with some environmental modifications and a hearing dog. Her apartment has been set up with flashing lights to indicate when the doorbell rings or a smoke detector goes off. Her dog Sam has been taught to go to her and get her attention in these circumstances. Pamela reads lips, which means she must be able to see the speaker, which is often a problem in stores, buses, and restaurants. She works as a librarian in a university library; the environment has had to be altered to accommodate her needs. She often feels that she is labeled as “the deaf woman” and people do not see her as the individual she really is.

Pamela was recently diagnosed with a 50% loss of kidney function due to high blood pressure. This has required her to visit her doctor frequently and undergo regular blood and urine testing. She has had difficulty understanding her doctor’s explanations because he does not tend to face her when talking, despite her requests. He also uses technical language that is not clear to her.

Pamela’s situation illustrates just a few of the special considerations that may need to be addressed when designing or evaluating health promotion programs for women with disabilities. This week you examine some of the issues inherent to disabilities and how they may be accommodated in women’s health promotion programs.

People with disabilities often are underserved in health prevention and health promotion campaigns. These individuals are as at risk for other health problems as any other person, but health prevention and promotion outreach to them requires addressing their individual needs. As an example, consider some of the issues that would need to be addressed in a health promotion program for sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention in a deaf community. Many deaf individuals have difficulty with reading, so it might be more effective to have a lecture with an American Sign Language interpreter. Even with this solution, however, there are considerations that need to be addressed. There is some controversy about sexually related signs, and many deaf people do not know the anatomically correct words/signs to discuss these issues. One alternative is to use the more vulgar ones that people know, but this may be offensive. As you can see, there are no easy answers, and decisions are not always clear cut. The important point to remember is that different disability populations have different needs, and having awareness of these needs helps you to be a more competent health psychology professional by designing more effective, empirically supported, programs.

For this Discussion, imagine that you are working with an oncologist specializing in breast cancer. The oncologist wants to initiate a publicity campaign promoting breast cancer screenings targeted toward women with disabilities. To prepare, select one specific disability to focus on and think about considerations you would need to address when communicating with women who have this disability through a breast cancer screening publicity campaign. (Select an issue other than deafness to use for this Discussion.)

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 the type of disability you selected. Describe at least three issues related to this disability that should be considered in a publicity campaign for this program and explain why they are important. Finally, explain what types of publicity strategies you might use and how you might communicate them to the target population.

Readings

· Travis C. B.,  & Meltzer, A. L. (2008). Women’s health: Biological and social systems. In F. Denmark & M. Paludi (Eds.), Psychology of women: Handbook of issues and theories (2nd ed., pp. 353–399). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

· American Psychological Association. (2007). Guidelines for psychological practice with girls and women. American Psychologist, 62(9), 949–979.  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

· Andrews, E. E. (2011). Pregnancy with a physical disability: One psychologist’s journey. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/disability/resources/publications/newsletter/2011/12/pregnancy-disability.aspx

· McDermott, S., Moran, R., Platt, T., & Dasari, S. (2007). Health conditions among women with a disability. Journal of Women’s Health, 16(5), 713–720.  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

· Requejo Harris, J., Merialdi, M., Merzagora, F., Aureli, F., & Bustreo, F. (2010). The World Health Organization policy on global women’s health: New frontiers. Journal of Women’s Health, 19(11), 2115–2118.  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

· Wood, R., & Douglas, M. (2007). Cervical screening for women with learning disability: Current practice and attitudes within primary care in Edinburgh. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35(2), 84–92. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases

Topic: Are adolescents more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior than older adults?

Once you have chosen your topic, examine the various theories of human development learned in the course and choose one or two that best assist you in understanding the issues involved in your topic. In your assignment address the following:

• Identify some of the major domains of human development and how they are impacted.
• Examine the physical, biological, emotional, cognitive, and/or social factors that are affected.
• Identify the stages of development that are affected and describe the cultural and historical perspectives of partitioning the lifespan that influence the interpretations of the available data on the topic.
• Describe the influences of family, culture, and environment and the roles they play.

Writing the Final Paper

The Final Paper:

1. Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
2. Must include a title page with the following:
   1. Title of paper
   2. Student’s name
   3. Course name and number
   4. Instructor’s name
   5. Date submitted
3. Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
   1. You may use the introduction you developed during the Week Four assignment or a revised version if changes are deemed necessary.
4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
5. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
   1. Conclude with an answer to the selected question. Did the evidence you surveyed answer the question satisfactorily?
   2. Include an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the available evidence.
   3. Illustrate how each source fits specific sections of your Final Paper. The goal is to demonstrate that supporting evidence exists for statements that are made in the paper.
   4. If possible, suggest the course that future research should take if answers to the selected question are deemed less than conclusive.
6. Must use at least five scholarly sources, all of which must come from the Ashford University Library or Google Scholar.
7. Must include an annotated bibliography which briefly summarizes each article including the purpose of the investigation, its methodology, and results.
   1. Rely on the brief summaries of the articles (including the purpose of each investigation, its methodology and results) that you developed during Week Four to construct an organized summary of the scientific evidence that answers the question you selected.
   2. If possible, select peer-reviewed articles that summarize the evidence available in a given field of study (e.g., meta-analysis combines the findings of different studies to uncover trends, commonalities and differences).
   3. Order the articles in the way you think you will discuss them in your paper. Then develop a summary of the scientific evidence that answers the question you selected.
   4. You may reference your textbook and other required materials from the course; however, these will not fulfill the resource requirement.
8. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
9. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
   1. You may use the reference section you developed in the Week Four assignment as the final page of the paper.

Stress Management

Locate an organization that has implemented a stress management program. Compose a 4-6 page paper in which you, acting as a consultant:

1. Discuss the implementation strategy of the organization’s stress management program.
2. Describe the components in the stress management program, including how the program is evaluated and sustained. Include four or more well-described components.
3. Suggest a minimum of four additional stress management ideas supported with business reasons and cost-justification.
4. Compare the model of the organization’s stress management program to at least two possible other stress models.