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PPE 310: Health Literacy for Schools

Modeling Healthy Behaviors as the Leader in the Work Place
Signature Assignment
Michelle Haney
Dr. Hesse
November 22, 2016

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Modeling Health and Wellness as a Leader in a Workplace

Introduction
What is Modeling Health and Wellness as a Leader in a Workplace? It is living in the best
possible lifestyle as a person, and promoting it as a leader. It focuses on social, emotional,
physical, intellectual, spiritual and nutritional benefits and keeping all those levels at 100%. It is
important to make healthy choices at all times because one thing a person does make affect many
different aspects in your life. The best way to think about it is like change your cars oil. You
need to take care of that regularly, or the car will eventually not run well. Living a healthy
lifestyle is much like that. Now to promote it in a workplace takes it to a whole different level.
My intention is to start having monthly workshops on promoting Health and Wellness in a
Workplace as a Leader. If the workshops become successful, I will hope to have biweekly
workshops and then eventually weekly workshops. I hope to have different themes for each
workshop that I can relate to the month. For example, in Thanksgiving, we will cover things like
healthy options at Thanksgiving dinner, to not drinking and driving and what alternatives there
are (Uber). My workshops are meant to help shape these leaders as a whole, so that not only can
they improve on themselves, but that they can promote what they have learned in my workshops
into their places of work.
Literature Review
The researchers of Is Healthy Behavior Contagious: Associations of Social Norms With
Physical Activity and Healthy Eating, saw that there was some sort of link between healthy
eating, exercise and social norms. However, it is weak, with little to no evidence. Their goal of
their research the relationship between clearly-defined social norms and physical activity and

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dietary behavior. They also wanted to focus on women in an economically disadvantaged

situation in Melbourne, Australia, who were participating in a broader study on resilience and
obesity. The focus is on social norms on healthy eating and social norms on physical activity.
They also focused on whether associations of social norms with health-related behaviors existed
after adjusting for the effects of social support.
The researchers of the article distributed a survey between August 2007 and January
2008. They focused on women aged 18-to 46-years-old. The survey focused on eating habits,
physical activities, and broad questions, covering topics that are thought to affect eating habits
and physical activity.
The findings were pretty inconsistent with social norms affecting life choices like
physical activity and eating habits. This could be because it is often hypothesized and remains
that way. However, social norms did generally help predict the outcomes of things like fruit and
vegetable intake. Again, the findings were inconsistent with social norms. It could be because the
researchers used very broad terms or the women did not understand what was asked. Some
things did happen like, if a woman saw another woman do things that were considered socially
acceptable, like eating or exercising, then they were more likely to adapt those same behaviors.
In Why Healthy Behavior is the Hard Choice it is difficult to make the right choice all
the time. When we are pressured to make good choices, but do not have all the options to do so,
it makes living healthy difficult. A suggestion is to increase taxes on items high in fats and
sugars. We did it with tobacco products and saw a significant reduction in users. The same goes
for Mexico. They added a tax to sodas and saw a 15% reduction in consumption.

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Another problem was face is that the additives to food make it taste good. But they also
contain copious amounts of sugar and fats. If there was a regulation put on foods to reduce these
additives, taste buds would adjust and foods would become less dangerous. Denmark has made it
a law to include 2% of fats and oils in foods. The U.K. reduced sodium in 85 types of food ad
saw a reduction in salt intake.
California has labels of all kinds for their foods, which lets people know that consuming
certain items can lead to an increase in obesity and diabetes. Banning brand advertisement helps
reduce obesity too. In Quebec, commercials targeting children were banned. We need to include
more thing like supermarkets and fresh stores in areas that are disadvantaged. When people are
exposed to healthier options, they end up living healthier lifestyles.
Food choices are typically focused on the younger children and elderly and not
adolescents in Educating Young Consumers a Food Choice Model. While food choices are
important in all aspects of life, this study focuses on children aged 9-to 17-years-old in Northern
Ireland. The article also focuses on the influential aspect of food choices. Meaning, does lifestyle
affect what you eat? Part of what drove the study is the fact that a high fat diet is related to
coronary heart disease. They wanted to see if adolescents had a high fat diet in Northern Ireland.
The researchers of this article did various methods of research in gathering their
information. One way they did so was by simply observing. The reason they did this was to see
what couldnt be answered on paper. Some participants may not understand a question or may
not be honest when answering the question. They issued questionnaires to the participants. The
questions were mostly closed, with a few open-ended questions. The researchers did dietary case
studies. They required the participants to record everything they ate, drank, and snacked on every

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single day for a week. They also included picture association with food groups. This included the
participants choosing between the five favorite foods and their five least favorite foods.
The results were mixed. Age and gender had a lot to do with food choices. But parents
and peers did not really affect food choices. For example, boys aged 9-to 14-years-old tended to
choose foods higher in sugars and fat. Girls aged 15-to 17-years-old chose healthier options for
food. When asked, the both genders did know about healthy eating. Confectionary and crisps
were way more popular than green, leafy vegetables in the picture association assessment. In the
questionnaire, 30% of respondents did eat the same food as their peers when it came to
lunchtime. Younger respondents felt that their parents had more control over their food choices,
while the older ones felt that that had more freedom in their food choices. With older female
respondents, they were likely to participate in healthier food options, along with physical
activities, in comparison to their male counterparts.
In Modeling Health Behavior Change: How to Predict and Modify the Adoption and
Maintenance of Health Behaviors, people tend to have horrible health habits, physical inactivity
and poor diet choices. People need to change this by forming better habits. This articles outlines
ways to form better habits. People will try to make healthy changes in their lives, but face relapse
in going back to what they were doing before the changes. To actually change the behavior, one
needs to actually break down what they are doing and go into detail about what they are doing
and why they are doing it. The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) suggests a distinction
between (a) preintentional motivation processes that lead to a behavioral intention, and (b)
postintentional volition process that leads to the actual health behavior.
There are different phases in self-efficacy when it comes to making changes in our lives.
The first one is Action self-efficacy, which is the initial stage where no action has taken place but

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the thought is there. Then, there is Maintenance self-efficacy, where it is the realistic view of
things when making changes. Finally, there is Recovery self-efficacy, where one reflects on the
failures of changes in the past and how to overcome them. Planning is very key, as well as being
aware of what hurdles one might overcome. Laying out goals and physically seeing them helps
with the motivation.
When practiced in different cases, it (HAPA) was proven to be successful among all
ages, genders, and different cases. This was mainly successful because the change was broken
up into two phases: motivational and volitional.
Synthesis of Information
In the first article, Is Healthy Behavior Contagious, the findings were inconsistent.
They could not exactly find whether social norms affect life choices like eating healthy and
physical activity. However, some social norms did align with choices made. But they were
mostly inconsistent, mostly because social norms are kind of like assumptions and not fact. In
Why Healthy Behavior is the Hard Choice, it is mentioned that it is hard to live healthy if we are
not presented with healthy options. In inner cities, we only have fast food areas and limited
parks. This does not make it easy to life healthy. It was presented that we should create higher
taxes on unhealthy foods and to also have fresh food markets available to everyone, rather than a
limited group. In Educating Young Consumers, the results were mixed. It was discovered that age
and gender did have a lot to do with food choices but parents and peers did not have a significant
effect on food choices. For example, older adolescent females participated in healthier eating
habits, in contrast to their male counterparts. In Modeling Health Behavior Change, it goes over
how having a motivation and a plan will help people change their habits. The articles presented

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different case studies, which all proved that the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) does
indeed work for anyone who wants to live a healthier life.
All my articles had different themes. But one theme they did have in common was health.
I have learned many different definitions of healthy because of these articles. There are many
different ways to be healthy. There are many factors that affect our choices. Social norms,
friends, and advertisement are a few ways that affect our lifestyle when it comes to eating
healthy and physical activity. Most people have knowledge of how to live healthy; we just
simply choose not to. Some are at a disadvantage and do not have the resources to live healthy.
My overall conclusion is that many people know how to live healthy. Most of the time, people
are not able to have access to these resources. They also do not know how to break bad habits
and form new ones.
I have come to the conclusion that if someone sees another person doing something, like
exercising or eating healthy, and it is considered a norm, then they are more likely to adapt to
that lifestyle. My goal, as a leader in a work place, is to be a model and present the resources
necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. I will teach them the steps, along with livings this healthy
lifestyle. This is necessary, because people will live longer lives and not dying from preventable
deaths. They wont suffer from coronary heart disease or diabetes. They will be able to do more
activities. Their family life wont suffer either. On a community scale, if we are able to enact
higher taxes on foods considered high in fat and sugar, then maybe we will be able to lead by
example.
Proposal

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Our community has a need to learn about health and wellness. Many people are dying
prematurely from preventable deaths. Preventable deaths include Diabetes and Heart Disease.
Based on my literature reviews, some people know how to live a healthy lifestyle. Some people
do not know to do so. It is also proven that if people observe someone that they consider
healthy doing healthy things, that person will model their life off of the healthy person. Just
knowing that simple fact further solidifies a need for developing healthy leaders. Theses healthy
leaders will uphold a lifestyle dedicated to not only being healthy, but also share their
experiences with their employees. Some examples of being a healthy leader in a workplace
include providing FitBit trackers for all employees, offering employees to stand rather than sit,
offer healthy snacks in the workplace, and even provide an incentive for the employees to live a
healthy lifestyle. This incentive should be much like health insurance. If the employees are
healthy, they get to receive a quarterly bonus. I want to be able to let these leaders know that in
their workplace; it starts with them.
My proposal is simple; we need to have workshops at least once a month going over a
healthy lifestyle with leaders. If my monthly workshops are successful, then I plan to have
weekly workshops where everyone from all walks of life are welcome. I ultimately want the
leaders to know that they can make the difference since their employees look to them for
answers. Ultimately, I would also like to become a sponsor for teams in my local community.
Funding
Funding is probably going to be the hardest part about this project. I plan to apply for
grants, sharing my goal with them. Some of the grants I plan to apply to include Aetna, Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health
to name a few. I also plan to ask for donations, by placing collecting containers in various stores

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around town. I also pan to start a GoFundMe page, as I have seen many successes from people
on there. If I share my story with the world, I might be able to receive ample donations to have
workshops at least once a month. On my social media pages, I plan to also have my story on
there, along with a donation page. I will need to be aggressive, but not too direct.
Wellness Committee
Once I receive enough money/donations, I plan to develop a wellness committee. I plan
to stay completely nonprofit. Those on the committee will be helping me by volunteering only. I
will need a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Marketing Team. I will also have various
other positions as time goes on. But for now, these positions are a must. I plan to do a vigorous
interview process, which includes a wellness check up from a doctor. I want them to come with a
resume, showing me what they do to promote a healthy lifestyle every single day. The wellness
committee will be involved in getting our message out, along with helping develop our
workshops, along with various involvement in the community.
Marketing
My marketing team will be very crucial. We will need to be aggressive again, but this
time, we need to advertise our workshop. We need a huge turnout rate, as I need as many people
to learn how to become a healthy leader in their workplace. I plan to hand out flyers by letting
people know what the theme of our various workshops are. I want to specifically target people in
gyms and health clinics. These are people looking for healthy lifestyles and I would like to help
them. Each workshop will focus on how to be a healthy leader in a workplace, but they will also
focus on each month. For example, we will talk about Thanksgiving and holiday woes for the
month of November. I also plan to advertise on our social media pages. I want to have at least a

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Facebook page and a Twitter page. These are the two most used social media sites, so the
chances of people stumbling across the page are high.
Teaching Healthy Behavior Content Knowledge
At this point, I will start my first workshop. My first workshop has to be my most
powerful and concrete. I plan to share my message. My message includes how I changed my
lifestyle.
I quit smoking, I start exercising four to five days a week, I meal prep, and I get my
recommended sleep every night. In doing so, I took control of my life. By taking control of my
life, my confidence increased. Since my confidence increased, I was able to take on leadership
positions in a workplace. I currently train new people at my job. Eventually, I will become a
teacher and share my story with my students. I am able to donate blood, which is someone I was
never able to do before making changes. People follow their leaders; so, we need to provide an
example of what to look up to. It starts with us!
I plan to let them know in my workshop that they are able to make differences like I did. I
plan to give them a list of people to contact and form networks with. I want them to join this
movement and have them spread the word. I also plan to have healthy food available at my
workshop, along with activities to do. I want to provide scenarios at work and ask these leaders
how they can make changes. For example, if donuts are always in the break room, along with
sitting during conferences, what can we do to make a difference? I hope to get a variety of
responses, all of which will help these leaders think about how they can make changes in their
workplace.
Engagement

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I want to ask the people at my workshop what they can do to make a difference. I dont
want them to answer out loud. I want them to think about it. Would having posters about food
portions and how much is recommended each day enough? Do I need to demonstrate and
provide incentives to living a healthy lifestyle? Those are some appropriate answers. I want to
include roleplaying situations, where people have to work in groups, and help solve problems
within the workplace. The more ideas we get, the better. After this, I plan to close out the
workshop. I will open to floor for any questions they have. I also plan to provide the participants
my phone number, so that they can call me anytime they want. I want to finish out the workshop
by letting them know that the difference starts with them, as the leader!
Conclusion
Healthy leadership start with the leaders themselves. People in workplaces look up to
their leaders. It has been proven that if someone looks like a leader, other people will follow suit.
People need to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle. It encompasses many different aspects;
physical, nutritional, and spiritual to name a few.
At the conclusion of my workshop, I intend to build a network with the leaders that came.
I want to develop a call list, where we can all stay in contact with each other at all times. I want
them to know that they can call me with questions. I want them to know that they can share ideas
with each other as well. My Facebook page and Twitter will be platforms to communicate and
share ideas on as well. As long as my message takes off, we can become successful.
In a year, the workshops will do well in Amarillo, Texas. The plan is go from monthly
workshops, to weekly workshops. People from surrounding areas and cities will come to the
workshops. The workshops will be filled out with too many people. After a year, my group

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expands. We go to other cities. Surrounding cities include Dallas, Oklahoma City, and
Albuquerque. In three years, the message will expand to other cities further away. In five years,
we will cover all of the United States. I will visit as many of the workshops as possible. It starts
with a can-do attitude. Together, the United States can become healthier. If we get lucky in ten
years, we can go international. We will not lose the message or rationale; It starts with you!
I want to help as many people as possible. It starts with me.

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Appendices A

November 2016 List of Activities needed to be done

November 2016

October 2016

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

December 2016

Thu

Fri

Sat

Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
Committee Meeting
5pm-630pm

Plan workshop 7pm- Committee Meeting

8pm
5pm-630pm

Plan workshop 7pm8pm

11

Rest

Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm

10

12

Plan workshop 7pm- Committee Meeting

8pm
5pm-630pm

Plan workshop 7pm- Committee Meeting

8pm
5pm-630pm

Plan workshop 7pm8pm

13

14

16

18

Rest

Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Hand out flyers 1pm- Workshop 5pm-8pm Hand out Dec. flyers
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
3 pm
1pm-3 pm

15

17

Plan workshop 7pm- Committee Meeting

8pm
5pm-630pm

Plan workshop 7pm- Committee Meeting

8pm
5pm-630pm

20

21

23

Rest

Hand out Dec. flyers Hand out Dec. flyers Hand out Dec. flyers Thanksgiving
1pm-3 pm
1pm-3 pm
1pm-3 pm

22

24

19

25

26

Black Friday

Hand out Dec. flyers

1pm-3 pm

Committee Meeting
5pm-630pm

27

28

Rest

Hand out Dec. flyers Hand out Dec. flyers Hand out Dec. flyers
1pm-3 pm
1pm-3 pm
1pm-3 pm

29
Committee Meeting
5pm-630pm

30

Notes:
Get food for workshop 11/17 @ 7
pm
Call Jillian Michaels 11/2 @ 11 am

More Calendars with US Holidays: Dec 2016, Jan 2017, PDF Calendar

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Appendices B

We are one of the most obese countries in the world! We need to make a change!!!

63% of food we consume is processed foods!!! This is not okay!

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This is what your plate should look like at every meal.

This is how we should life every day. Being healthy means a multitude of things.

15

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Interested in what I have to say?

Come visit us November 18th, 5pm-8pm at 123 ABC Street.

Learn how to become a healthy leader! It starts with YOU!

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Appendices C

Learn how to be a
healthy leader!!!

Free snacks

Develop skills

Roleplay involved

WHEN?
NOVEMBER 18TH!
HEALTHY LEADERSHIP IN A
WORKPLACE
Calling all leaders! Come join us at the
community center to learn how to become a
healthy leader in your workplace. This will
make a difference for you and your workers
in your workplace! It starts with YOU!

Special guest Jillian

Michaels will talk
about a healthy
lifestyle

HEALTHY LIVING
123 ABC Street
Amarillo, TX 79109
www.facebook.com/hea
lthyliving
www.twitter.com/health

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References

Ball, K., Jeffery, R. W., Abbott, G., McNaughten, S. A., & Crawford, D. (2010). Is healthy
behavior contagious: associations of social norms with physical activity and healthy
eating. Retrieved from http://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-7-86
Gostin, L. O. (2015). Why Healthy Behavior Is the Hard Choice. Milbank Quarterly, 93(2), 242246. doi:10.1111/1468-0009.12117
Hamilton, J., McIlveen, H., & Strugnell, C. (2000). Educating young consumers a food choice
model. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 24(2), 113-123. Retrieved from
doi:10.1046/j.1365-2737.2000.00151.x
Schwarzer, R. (2008, January 30). Modeling Health Behavior Change: How to Predict and
Modify the Adoption and Maintenance of Health Behaviors. Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00325.x/full