Part #5: Health-Compromising Behaviours

Learning Activity

An important role that a Health Psychologist can play is evaluating the effectiveness of various programs and interventions
related to health. This information can be important for developing policies or advocating for funding for certain programs. For this
learning activity, you will practice the skill of designing a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a harm reduction strategy for a
health-compromising behaviour.

Instructions:
Imagine that you have been hired to design and evaluate the effectiveness of a harm reduction strategy for a health-
compromising behaviour.
 Choose one of the health-compromising behaviours covered in module 5 and explain why you chose to focus on this particular
behaviour.
 Describe some of the harm caused by the behaviour, with reference to specific information from module 5.
 Clearly describe the harm reduction strategy that you will use to help reduce the harm caused by this behaviour to either the
individual and/or the broader community.
 Explain how your chosen strategy should reduce harm, using specific information from module 5.
 Describe how you will test whether your harm reduction strategy is effective for reducing the harm caused by this behaviour.

Grading Rubric: 19 marks possible

Health Compromising Behaviour Yes = 1 No = 0
Behaviour clearly stated and covered in module 5
Clear reason stated for why this behaviour was chosen
Clear accurate explanation of some harms caused by the behaviour to the individual or community
Specific information from module 5 included to explain harms of the behaviour

Specific and Vague and/or

Harm Reduction Strategy Absent = 0
clear = 2 unclear = 1
Clear description of the harm reduction strategy used
Clear explanation of how the strategy will help to reduce harm
Specific information from module 5 included to justify expected harm reduction

Specific and Vague and/or

Evaluation of Harm Reduction Strategy Absent = 0
clear = 2 unclear = 1
Clear hypothesis is stated at the beginning of this section in the form of an “if, then” statement
Variables measured are clearly described and relevant (e.g., independent variables like different
groups; dependent variables and how they will be measured).
Method is clearly described and makes sense for the harm reduction strategy and hypothesis stated.
Method should include details like: time frame (how long will the study go on), whether the study is
correlational or experimental, and whether different people are being compared or pre/post
measures for the same people are being compared.
An explanation of what kind of results would provide evidence for the effectiveness of the harm
reduction strategy is included and relevant.
(i.e., what would your results look like if your harm reduction strategy is effective?)

Writing Yes (1) No (0)

Writing is coherent and (nearly) free from errors