Health Behavior
Health behavior scientists are experts in applying theory to behavioral problems in order to develop effective intervention strategies. Recently health behavior scientists have focused on advocating for policy changes (e.g. cell phone driving laws smoke-free workplace laws nutrition standards for school meals childhood vaccination schedules) to increase healthy behaviors. Evidence suggests that policy change has the potential to be sustained longer and impact larger segments of the population than health programs targeted on a smaller scale. However rarely do these policy changes have strong theoretical foundation which could enhance their impact. Select a major policy change of your choosing and discuss how its implementation can be enhanced by a strong theoretical foundation. In your response not less than 4 pages:
1. Provide an overview of the existing or proposed policy and the behavior it intends to change.
2. Describe in detail the theory and its constructs as they apply (or could apply) to this policy. Be sure to provide rational/justification for the selection of this theory and choice of constructs. Feel free to be creative in your response.
3. For any two constructs from the selected theory operationalize each construct by creating two potential survey items/questions to measure each construct.
