Devon Tapp
UNIV 679 Community Engagement Project
Part I: Identifying an Academic Mentor
Dr. Dominick, Associate Professor in the department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition.
Part II: Developing a project/e-portfolio
The stakeholders of the proposed program include the administrators and members from the Howard J. Weston Senior Center. The administrators will include the Program Director, Ms. Sheraton, and the Program Coordinator, Ms. McCool. These women have worked at the senior center for several years and have moved up the “corporate ladder”. Ms. Sheraton started as a janitor and moved her way up to her current position as Program Director. These women have an in-depth understanding of the target population, the common health concerns, and the resources that are needed and currently available at the senior center. This being said, both Ms. Sheraton and Ms. McCool will be fundamental contributors to this program, as they will not only provide background information on the target population, but also help connect older adults to this opportunity to participate in this program.
1. Health objective: By the end of year two of the program, program participants who are members of the senior center will report significantly lower stress levels compared to baseline assessment.
2. Behavioral objective: By the completion of the program, 90% of the participants will report engaging in mindfulness behaviors compared to baseline assessment.
The behavioral objective will be measured using the following two validated scales: The Adult Wellbeing Assessment (NCOA, 2019) and The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006). The Adult Wellbeing assessment consists of 8 items, differentiating in stressors assumed to be concerns for older adults. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire consists of 5 items, which assesses mindful awareness, and use of mindfulness techniques.
Another concern of ours is that older adults may not have access to WIFI, a computer, or an iPad to participate in the program. To address this, the senior center as stated that they have iPads that they can have the older adults “sign-out” for the program and return. Also, the senior center will allow older adults to attend the senior center and use their WIFI as needed (with precautions). Lastly, the team has decided that it would be beneficial to host a few technology and zoom sessions to address any technological concerns the adults may have prior to starting the program.
We also fully anticipate to have the program be sustainable after the research team and I are no longer conducting the program. A sustainable program is perceived as beneficial to stakeholders, fits with the organization’s mission, has early involvement of stakeholders, and provides continuous communication, and regularly seeks out administrative support throughout the program (Dominick, 2020). Based on how successful the program is, the research team will determine which components of Unwind Your Mind should stay and which components are unnecessary.
Part III. Create an annotated bibliography related to the topic or your choice (10 annotations minimum)
1. Wu, B. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: a global challenge. Glob Health Res Policy. 5 (27). doi:10.1186/s41256-020-00154-3
Wu presents current research on the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness among older adults during the COVID-19.Wu also discusses serval approaches that may address the issues of social isolation and loneliness. Wu mentions that a few of these approaches consist of promoting social connection, community-based networks, and finding ways to identify social isolation and loneliness. The research team believed that we could address the above approaches in our program, and we decided to do so my creating a virtual community (promoting social connection) where those who are members at the senior center can come together and catch up as well as discuss stress during COVID-19 (community-based networks). Lastly, we identified social isolation and loneliness through administering surveys that addressed these two topics (finding ways to identify social isolation and loneliness).
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) In The U.S.. Retrieved October 4th, 2020 from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesinlast7days.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides up to date information on the virus, and the protocols that one should be following. The research team wanted to ensure that we addressed the specific protocols put in the place during the time of the program, to enforce healthy (and important) preventative behaviors. The CDC also provides valuable information for different age groups to review in a way that is clear and comprehensive.
3. Sharifirad, G., Ghaffari, M., Zanjani, S., & Hassanzadeh, A. (2013) The effectiveness of educational intervention based on PRECEDE model on the level of stress among the elderly at elderly clubs. Journal of Education Health Promotion 2(3). doi:10.4103/2277-9531.106641
Sharifirad, Ghaffari, Zanjani, and Hassanzadeh present a study using the PRECEDE model to address stress in older adults. They conducted a quasi-experimental study with elderly people from Tehran, and followed all phases of the PRECEDE model. The PRECEDE can be considered Part 1 of the PRECEDE-PROCEDE model. Everything in the PRECEDE model is leading up to implementation. The PROCEDE model then focuses on implementation and evaluation. Findings of the study suggested that the PRECEDE model was effective in reducing stress levels in the elderly.
4. Dominick, G. (2020, October 27). Advanced Program Promotion Programming. Evaluation Designs, Implementation and Sustainability [PowerPoint slides]
Dr. Greg Dominick is a professor at the University of Delaware, who is well educated in the Precede-Proceed model. Dr. Dominick teaches an Advanced Program Promotion Programming course where he solely focuses on the implementation of the Precede-Proceed model in a community setting. Dr. Dominick discusses the different forms of evaluation designs and what each entail, as well as how to create a sustainability plan for when the program is finished.
5. National Council on Aging. (2020, October 5). Adult Well-being Assessment Tailored for Aging Adults. https://www.ncoa.org/resources/adult-well-being-assessment-tailored-for-aging-adults/
The Adult Well-being Assessment (AWA) is a validated self-reported survey that asks individuals to rate their overall well-being, finances, physical, mental, and physical health. The survey also consists of a few items to address isolation and loneliness. The survey was created by a subset group from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). The research team felt that this was the best survey to address overall well-being as well as loneliness during COVID-19. The survey was also short enough that we felt it would be easy for the participants to take both pre and post program.
6. Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. Perceived stress scale. (1994). Measuring stress: A guide for health and social scientists. Hathi Trust. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031748547
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is considered to be the most widely used scale for measuring perception of stress. The scale items measure the degree to which situations in one’s life are stressful. The items were also designed to observe how unpredictable or uncontrollable a participant finds their life. The research team thought that this specific construct was important to address, as COVID-19 has been uncontrollable and unpredictable at times.
7. Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1), 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191105283504
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire is a self-help and self-scorable measurement on the five aspects of mindfulness. The five aspects of mindfulness that are included in this measure are observation, description, aware actions, non-judgmental inner experience, and non-reactivity. The research team believed that it is important to address the degree to which a participant participated in mindfulness behaviors before and after participation in the program. It was anticipated that this scale would help us answer our behavioral objective of having 90% of participants participate in mindful behaviors by the end of the program.
8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). What Is Mental Health? https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provides material for researchers to refer to when creating a mental health program for a specific population. The DHHS provides information for different age groups, and how their possible understanding of the topic. The research team found this material important as mental health may have a different connotation for teenagers than for the elderly. For example, literature supports the idea that mental health is a newer term for most elderly individuals, as the term was considered “taboo” in the past. Based on the information from DHHS, the research team decided that we would not use the term mental health in any of our program materials, nor in the program name. Instead, we focused on the terms stress and mindfulness.
9. Scott, S., Jackson, B., & Bergeman, C. (2011). What contributes to perceived stress in later life? A recursive partitioning approach. Psychology and Aging, 26(4):830-843. doi:10.1037/a0023180
This study examines how combinations of contextual features such as social isolation, health problems, age discrimination, financial concerns, and recent life events affect an older adults’ overall feelings of stress. It was shown that there are many factors contributing to overall feelings of stress, and one option to reduce overall feelings of stress can be the introduction of mindfulness initiatives into their life. It is also expected that perceived stress can be reduced when one is able to acknowledge that many individuals their age experience similar feelings. It was important to the research team that we had a “social support” component in our program, so that participants can acknowledge that they are not the only ones feelings over-stressed.
10. Calhoun, A., Mainor, A., Moreland-Russell, S., Maier, R., Brossart, L., & Luke, D. (2014). Using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to assess and plan for sustainability. Preventing Chronic Diseases, 11. doi:10.5888/pcd11.130185
Authors suggest using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to assess and plan for sustainability when implementing a program or invention. The article describes the three-part sustainability planning process that programs can benefit from following to build their sustainability impact. The tool measures program sustainability across 8 domains. It is assumed that through this process, staff can better address the internal and external challenged associated with sustaining a program. Our research team emphasizes the importance of sustainability throughout the program planning process, and we expected that this assessment tool would help us address the all aspects of maintaining a program once the program is complete (including the aspects that we may have personally missed when writing up our sustainability plan).
11. Gell, N., Rosenberg, D., Demiris, G., LaCroix, A, & Patel, K. (2015). Patterns of technology use among older adults with and without disabilities. Gerontologist, 55(3):412-421. doi:10.1093/geront/gnt166
This paper reviews the patterns of technology use among older adults. Even though this paper was written in 2015, it provided us with great insight on how older adults may use technology, and what are some of the challenges that we will likely need to address. It seems that older adults are likely to use technology, but the effortless and straight-forward design of specific technologies and applications is likely the reason associated with technology usage. Our research team used this information to make the program unchallenging as possible. We held instructional sessions before the program to get familiar and we created one-click links for the participants to take the online.
UNIV 679 Community Engagement Project
Part I: Identifying an Academic Mentor
Dr. Dominick, Associate Professor in the department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition.
Part II: Developing a project/e-portfolio
- Brief description (what do you plan to do?)
- Project site/setting (Where and with whom will you work?)
The stakeholders of the proposed program include the administrators and members from the Howard J. Weston Senior Center. The administrators will include the Program Director, Ms. Sheraton, and the Program Coordinator, Ms. McCool. These women have worked at the senior center for several years and have moved up the “corporate ladder”. Ms. Sheraton started as a janitor and moved her way up to her current position as Program Director. These women have an in-depth understanding of the target population, the common health concerns, and the resources that are needed and currently available at the senior center. This being said, both Ms. Sheraton and Ms. McCool will be fundamental contributors to this program, as they will not only provide background information on the target population, but also help connect older adults to this opportunity to participate in this program.
- Major question (s) you hope to answer/goals you hope to achieve
- Products/results (what will be the measurable outcomes of your project?)
1. Health objective: By the end of year two of the program, program participants who are members of the senior center will report significantly lower stress levels compared to baseline assessment.
2. Behavioral objective: By the completion of the program, 90% of the participants will report engaging in mindfulness behaviors compared to baseline assessment.
- How will you assess these outcomes? Be specific
The behavioral objective will be measured using the following two validated scales: The Adult Wellbeing Assessment (NCOA, 2019) and The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006). The Adult Wellbeing assessment consists of 8 items, differentiating in stressors assumed to be concerns for older adults. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire consists of 5 items, which assesses mindful awareness, and use of mindfulness techniques.
- How will you disseminate the outcomes of this project to academic and community audiences.
- Resources needed (What do you need in order to do an excellent job?)
- Calendar of component tasks or timeline ( SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT BELOW, could not add to site)
- Your biggest concern (s) about the project.
Another concern of ours is that older adults may not have access to WIFI, a computer, or an iPad to participate in the program. To address this, the senior center as stated that they have iPads that they can have the older adults “sign-out” for the program and return. Also, the senior center will allow older adults to attend the senior center and use their WIFI as needed (with precautions). Lastly, the team has decided that it would be beneficial to host a few technology and zoom sessions to address any technological concerns the adults may have prior to starting the program.
- Describe your completed community engagement project (What will you have accomplished? What are your outcomes? What will you have learned/gained from the experience?)
We also fully anticipate to have the program be sustainable after the research team and I are no longer conducting the program. A sustainable program is perceived as beneficial to stakeholders, fits with the organization’s mission, has early involvement of stakeholders, and provides continuous communication, and regularly seeks out administrative support throughout the program (Dominick, 2020). Based on how successful the program is, the research team will determine which components of Unwind Your Mind should stay and which components are unnecessary.
- Create a plan for teaching/learning
- Create a plan for public, academic dissemination
Part III. Create an annotated bibliography related to the topic or your choice (10 annotations minimum)
1. Wu, B. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness among older adults in the context of COVID-19: a global challenge. Glob Health Res Policy. 5 (27). doi:10.1186/s41256-020-00154-3
Wu presents current research on the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness among older adults during the COVID-19.Wu also discusses serval approaches that may address the issues of social isolation and loneliness. Wu mentions that a few of these approaches consist of promoting social connection, community-based networks, and finding ways to identify social isolation and loneliness. The research team believed that we could address the above approaches in our program, and we decided to do so my creating a virtual community (promoting social connection) where those who are members at the senior center can come together and catch up as well as discuss stress during COVID-19 (community-based networks). Lastly, we identified social isolation and loneliness through administering surveys that addressed these two topics (finding ways to identify social isolation and loneliness).
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) In The U.S.. Retrieved October 4th, 2020 from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesinlast7days.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides up to date information on the virus, and the protocols that one should be following. The research team wanted to ensure that we addressed the specific protocols put in the place during the time of the program, to enforce healthy (and important) preventative behaviors. The CDC also provides valuable information for different age groups to review in a way that is clear and comprehensive.
3. Sharifirad, G., Ghaffari, M., Zanjani, S., & Hassanzadeh, A. (2013) The effectiveness of educational intervention based on PRECEDE model on the level of stress among the elderly at elderly clubs. Journal of Education Health Promotion 2(3). doi:10.4103/2277-9531.106641
Sharifirad, Ghaffari, Zanjani, and Hassanzadeh present a study using the PRECEDE model to address stress in older adults. They conducted a quasi-experimental study with elderly people from Tehran, and followed all phases of the PRECEDE model. The PRECEDE can be considered Part 1 of the PRECEDE-PROCEDE model. Everything in the PRECEDE model is leading up to implementation. The PROCEDE model then focuses on implementation and evaluation. Findings of the study suggested that the PRECEDE model was effective in reducing stress levels in the elderly.
4. Dominick, G. (2020, October 27). Advanced Program Promotion Programming. Evaluation Designs, Implementation and Sustainability [PowerPoint slides]
Dr. Greg Dominick is a professor at the University of Delaware, who is well educated in the Precede-Proceed model. Dr. Dominick teaches an Advanced Program Promotion Programming course where he solely focuses on the implementation of the Precede-Proceed model in a community setting. Dr. Dominick discusses the different forms of evaluation designs and what each entail, as well as how to create a sustainability plan for when the program is finished.
5. National Council on Aging. (2020, October 5). Adult Well-being Assessment Tailored for Aging Adults. https://www.ncoa.org/resources/adult-well-being-assessment-tailored-for-aging-adults/
The Adult Well-being Assessment (AWA) is a validated self-reported survey that asks individuals to rate their overall well-being, finances, physical, mental, and physical health. The survey also consists of a few items to address isolation and loneliness. The survey was created by a subset group from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). The research team felt that this was the best survey to address overall well-being as well as loneliness during COVID-19. The survey was also short enough that we felt it would be easy for the participants to take both pre and post program.
6. Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. Perceived stress scale. (1994). Measuring stress: A guide for health and social scientists. Hathi Trust. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031748547
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is considered to be the most widely used scale for measuring perception of stress. The scale items measure the degree to which situations in one’s life are stressful. The items were also designed to observe how unpredictable or uncontrollable a participant finds their life. The research team thought that this specific construct was important to address, as COVID-19 has been uncontrollable and unpredictable at times.
7. Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1), 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191105283504
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire is a self-help and self-scorable measurement on the five aspects of mindfulness. The five aspects of mindfulness that are included in this measure are observation, description, aware actions, non-judgmental inner experience, and non-reactivity. The research team believed that it is important to address the degree to which a participant participated in mindfulness behaviors before and after participation in the program. It was anticipated that this scale would help us answer our behavioral objective of having 90% of participants participate in mindful behaviors by the end of the program.
8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). What Is Mental Health? https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provides material for researchers to refer to when creating a mental health program for a specific population. The DHHS provides information for different age groups, and how their possible understanding of the topic. The research team found this material important as mental health may have a different connotation for teenagers than for the elderly. For example, literature supports the idea that mental health is a newer term for most elderly individuals, as the term was considered “taboo” in the past. Based on the information from DHHS, the research team decided that we would not use the term mental health in any of our program materials, nor in the program name. Instead, we focused on the terms stress and mindfulness.
9. Scott, S., Jackson, B., & Bergeman, C. (2011). What contributes to perceived stress in later life? A recursive partitioning approach. Psychology and Aging, 26(4):830-843. doi:10.1037/a0023180
This study examines how combinations of contextual features such as social isolation, health problems, age discrimination, financial concerns, and recent life events affect an older adults’ overall feelings of stress. It was shown that there are many factors contributing to overall feelings of stress, and one option to reduce overall feelings of stress can be the introduction of mindfulness initiatives into their life. It is also expected that perceived stress can be reduced when one is able to acknowledge that many individuals their age experience similar feelings. It was important to the research team that we had a “social support” component in our program, so that participants can acknowledge that they are not the only ones feelings over-stressed.
10. Calhoun, A., Mainor, A., Moreland-Russell, S., Maier, R., Brossart, L., & Luke, D. (2014). Using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to assess and plan for sustainability. Preventing Chronic Diseases, 11. doi:10.5888/pcd11.130185
Authors suggest using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to assess and plan for sustainability when implementing a program or invention. The article describes the three-part sustainability planning process that programs can benefit from following to build their sustainability impact. The tool measures program sustainability across 8 domains. It is assumed that through this process, staff can better address the internal and external challenged associated with sustaining a program. Our research team emphasizes the importance of sustainability throughout the program planning process, and we expected that this assessment tool would help us address the all aspects of maintaining a program once the program is complete (including the aspects that we may have personally missed when writing up our sustainability plan).
11. Gell, N., Rosenberg, D., Demiris, G., LaCroix, A, & Patel, K. (2015). Patterns of technology use among older adults with and without disabilities. Gerontologist, 55(3):412-421. doi:10.1093/geront/gnt166
This paper reviews the patterns of technology use among older adults. Even though this paper was written in 2015, it provided us with great insight on how older adults may use technology, and what are some of the challenges that we will likely need to address. It seems that older adults are likely to use technology, but the effortless and straight-forward design of specific technologies and applications is likely the reason associated with technology usage. Our research team used this information to make the program unchallenging as possible. We held instructional sessions before the program to get familiar and we created one-click links for the participants to take the online.
dt_community_engagement_project_.docx | |
File Size: | 93 kb |
File Type: | docx |