Research Topics: Applied Health Project Reports

Applied health project report

Description:  This project examines three key factors that are important in understanding individuals’ attitudes towards their health.  The three variables that will be considered are: 1) Health locus of control, 2) Value of health, and 3) Attitudes towards doctors and medicine.  You will be required to assess 20 people (10 men and 10 women) on these dimensions and then summarize (descriptively) the results and discuss their implications and significance.  To gather the data from your 20 participants you may work in small groups with 3 or 4 colleagues – for example, if you work in groups of 4 people, one person may collect the data from 5 older males, another person from 5 younger males, another from 5 younger females and finally the fourth person from 5 older females.  It is important to note that the report itself is your independent work – not a group-based report.                Your report should include a substantial and thorough review of the literature relevant to the variables of health locus of control, attitudes towards medicine, and the value placed on health, and how these may impact on people’s utilization of health services and illness management.  To assist in your preliminary research, a number of references are provided below (these are available on the CMD), however you are expected to conduct a substantial literature review in order to supplement these with other relevant references related to current or past research on this topic. Materials:  1)      Health locus of control scale (Wallston, 1978) 2)      Value of health scale (Lau, Hartman & Ware, 1986) 3)      Attitudes towards doctors and medicine scale (Marteau, 1990) Procedure:  Data will collected from 10 males and 10 females.  Half of the participants will be adults under the age of 25 years.  The remaining participants will be adults over the age of 45 years.  In accordance with ethical procedures, will you need to obtain participants’ consent.   18 to 25 yrs Over 45 yrs Females N = 5 N = 5 Males N = 5 N = 5   Style: The report should be written in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Marking criteria: This assignment is worth 25% of the total marks in PYB307 and will be allocated 25 marks.  Marks will be allocated in the following way:    Title and Abstract – 2 marks Introduction – 6 marks Method (including relevant appendices) – 3 marks Results (including relevant appendices) – 5 marks Discussion – 5 marks References – 2 marks General – 2 marks   Guidelines: The report needs to include the following sections: Title Is the title self-explanatory and relevant? Abstract Has the aim, purpose, relevant theory, participants, method, major findings and main conclusion been described? Introduction What is the purpose and aim of this project?   Why is this topic important and relevant? Why and how are these variables relevant to health service utilization and illness management? Has relevant previous research been described and critiqued? Is your literature review current and thorough? What is the hypothesis / hypotheses? Method What was the procedure used to obtain participant’s consent? Who are the participants? (age, gender) What procedure did you follow? What materials did you use?  How are the scales scored?  Results What are the findings?   Are graphs or tables needed to display your results? What are the means and standard deviations for the scales? Are there any differences between males and females or any age-related differences? Discussion Have you described what your key findings mean in a theoretical or practical sense? How do the findings from the current project relate to past research findings? What is your evaluation of the current project?  Are there any limitations of your study?  What are your recommendations for future research in this area? Is a concise summary of the project included? References Are the references in the body of the report and in the reference list in accordance with APA Publication Manual (5th edition) guidelines? Appendices Are the relevant questionnaires included as Appendices? Are relevant analyses included?  Is the raw data included? References: Furnham, A., & Steele, H. (1993). Measuring locus of control: A critique of general,             children’s, health and work related locus of control questionnaires. British Journal of Psychology, 84(1), 443-480. Lau, R.R., Hartman, K.A., & Ware, J.E. (1986). Health as a value: Methodological and             theoretical considerations.  Health Psychology, 5(1), 25-43. Marteau, T. M. (1990). Attitudes towards doctors and medicine: The preliminary development of a new scale.  Psychology and Health, 4, 351-356. Shelton Smith, M., & Wallston, K.A. (1992). How to measure the value of health. Health  Education Research, 7, 129-135. Wallston, K.A., Maides, S., & Wallston, B.S. (1976). Health related information seeking as a function of health-related locus of control and health value. Journal of Research in Personality, 19(4), 215-222. Wallston, K.A., Wallston, B.S., & DeVellis, R. (1978). Development of the multidimensional             health locus of control (MHLC) scales. Health Education Monographs, 6(2), 161-170. Wurtele, S.K., Britcher, J.C., & Saslawsky, D.A. (1985). Relationships between locus of             control, health value, and preventive health behaviours among women.  Journal of             Research in Personality, 19(5), 271-278.  Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Applied health project report

Description: This project examines three key factors that are important in understanding individuals’ attitudes towards their health. ...