Ninth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

The Health Maintenance Consortium held in 2010, theorized that mechanisms of behavior change are influenced by knowledge or cognition, self-efficacy or intrinsic motivation, behavior skill building, and social reinforcement. Expressive hand-writing journaling helps students recognize negative thoughts and behaviors that affect the six dimensions of health: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, and occupational. Hand-writing, an executive action, correlates with pre-frontal cognitive function, which is responsible for decision-making and critical thinking. We implemented an expressive hand-written journaling assignment in a health elective course, hypothesizing that it could help students to improve self-awareness, ability to manage negative health behavior and, self-confidence and self-efficacy. Seventy-five students, ages 18-33 years old, were randomly assigned to two groups, a journaling group (J) and non-journaling group (NJ). The final questionnaire responses showed that both groups successfully tracked their ability to manage negative health behaviors. However, students from the J group described details about increased self-awareness and behavior change awareness (60%), feelings of self-efficacy and self-confidence (14%), emotional and mental relief (26%), and one student described feeling more committed to deciding about a behavior choice. In the NJ group, 42% depended on some form of social support; 52% used other methods, such as a phone app or calendar. Hand-written journals may help students to express a deeper awareness and knowledge of their behaviors, including self-efficacy and self-confidence. However, there is also a need for a follow-up study to determine if the students from both groups have sustained their behavior.