#103
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:45:22 -0600
From: "Mark J. Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB" <kittle@SIU.EDU>
Subject: A Request
** AAHE in March...Be There!
**
Hi Folks,
This request may seem morbid, but hey, sometimes I'm a morbid kind of guy.
Last night we found out that the 17 year old idiot dating our 16 year old doesn't wear his seatbelt when driving. Of course both my wife and I tried to explain to him the logic of it but he just doesn't buy it. Needless to say our daughter will not be driving with him anymore (she's not happy about it but hey, what can we say).
As we tried to explain to this kid that one of the major reasons to wear the belt is to help maintain control of the car after a crash (secondary impact can cause more problems than the first in many instances). Also, most deaths are because the person is ejected and the car rolled over them. This caught his eye.I have a couple of news paper articles about vehicle accidents that describe the victim was ejected and rolled over by the car.
Of course the population in southern Illinois is relatively small and we don't have large number of accidents (although I think proportionally we are above the norm).
What I would like to create is a large number of articles that specifically describe the cause of death by ejection and roll-over. If you find such an article would you either cut it out and mail it to me, or better yet, scan it and send it to me (don't send it over the HEDIR-it doesn't accept attachments). Please make sure it's the entire article and make sure you give the proper citations (newspaper, date, etc.)
Now, I know some of you are going to think that such tactics don't work.
I'm fully cognizant of the limitations, and that historically we (health
education) don't encourage scare tactics. I think that is somewhat nearsighted. Granted, scare tactics may not work to a large extent for a long time, but it does have an impact on some people.as health educators we should have a large arsenal of 'gimmicks' to provide instruction. What this 'ex-boyfriend' of our daughter didn't realize that the rollover was a problem.he had 'never' heard of this.
So for all future 'boyfriends', students, and others who refuse to wear seatbelts my goal would be for them to view this slide show listing death after death from people who didn't wear their seatbelt and were ejected and were crushed by their own car. Morbid yes.but I do need some help.
Certainly after I compile a large number of these I would be happy to share with those individuals out in HEDIR land.especially to those who contribute.
Thanks.
P.S. If something like this has already been created, please let me know.
Mark J. Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB
Professor, Health Education
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Health Education & Recreation
Southern Illinois University
618-453-1841 (office)
618-453-1829 (fax)
**
** Support the HEDIR With Your Gift
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------------------------------
#104
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 12:42:12 -0500
From: kenneth zeno <kzeno@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: Re: A Request-reply, Habits of the Mind, Habits of the Heart
** AAHE in March...Be There!
**
Dear Mark-
Just a few immediate thoughts/reactions and not to pontificate. I am a little surprised where you have chosen to focus your energy for influencing behavior change. We know from doctors and others who smoke that increased knowledge(and logic) often does not make a substantial difference in a smoker's behavior. So true with other behaviors (e.g. driving). Further, choice is frequently not based on logic. Certainly fear doesn't always make a difference, unless you can tap into strong feelings of vulnerability often not the mind-set of teenagers and especially those who believe "it won't happen to me". Vulnerability is generally not part of the teens mind-set.
When one does tap into vulnerability, it is usually temporary. I suspect that your own current sense of vulnerability (disempowerment) is leading to an aggressive approach and belief that if you just can accumulate a ton of information, this kid will see the light. Having worked with teenagers, I doubt it. I might add and undoubtedly you know this, how is your characterization of him (in your mind) as "an idiot" affecting how "logical"
you are in approaching him in dialogue? Having worked with parents and teens in a puberty and beyond program, I know that parents are seldom logical when their young daughters begin dating. All their fears come to the surface.
As we know, behaviors are driven by a variety of factors: beliefs, emotions, values(conscious/unconscious), motivations etc. Among a variety of approaches that I have used as a health educator in health classes at the secondary level, I believe that inviting people to reflect on their espoused values and their relationship to behavior is a good beginning to engender authenticity/congruence in self and others, thereby influencing behaviors.
As an educator, I don't support a "talking at"/Stuff their heads approach to teaching and learning, a style used at many of the graduate schools I attended. I did endure the ritual to get my degrees. I have more of a constructivist, Socratic dialogue approach to teaching and learning as well as personal dialogue. Inviting dialogue through selective use of powerful questions that are open-ended, without the intent to control, engenders curiosity.
As a life coach trained in the co-active method, we look at another person as "creative, resourceful and whole" human being (mind-body-spirit). I wonder how this 16 year old looks at (if he does) what he values and whether his behavior reflects those chosen/espoused values. In what way does he value your daughter and his relationship with her? Have you shared with him in a non-challenging way any of your own fears (vulnerabilities) when his daughter is out in a car? Have you invited a dialogue about ways to protect those people who are close to him when potentially vulnerable on the highway? Does his caring about her in any way connect him to you and thereby wanting to respect your wishes out of respect for her? Have you shared with him that if your daughter cares about him, then you in turn respect that and care about him, wanting to protect him?
I am reminded of a time when my nephew (12) was in an argument with his friend. The issue involved teasing about a girlfriend. You know middle school kids do that often. The teasing resulted in a strong verbal conflict in a restaurant. One kid stormed out of the restaurant visibly angry. In the car there was a lot of anger energy and silence. I initiated a discussion of what happened and why. While we had a discussion about why they were arguing and yelling (these were the so-called "facts"), what seem to make a difference was when I got to asking one of them what he liked and appreciated about their friendship. Acknowledging the strength of their relationship (the feelings for each other and the joys of friendship) seemed to change their attitudes and focus. They each liked hearing positive things about themselves and why their friend appreciated them for these qualities.
Now they were ready for reflecting on what they could have done (change their ways of being) differently to not result in conflict . I used a bit of the Appreciative Inquiry Method developed by David Cooperrider. It lead them to laughter and playfulness for the rest of the evening. There is more detail to the story but I wanted to give you the gist of it.
These are only questions that I use as examples as an approach and not ones that I would ask. Formulating the questions which invite dialogue, not resistance or "wise" remarks, takes lots of thought. I do not claim to know the answer but I do think that your initial approach will not get you very far with this teen.
Educators don't need "gimmicks", we need authenticity, transparency and "ways of being", (some say Habits of the Mind and Habits of the Heart) in order to connect with others and have a profound impact. If we think about what contributes to our sense of connection, it isn't always knowledge. It is something beyond that.
I hope this helps in some small way.
Ken
--
Ken Zeno, MA, MAT, PhD Cand., Director
Center for Health and Human Development (CHHD) ³Parents-as-Coaches² Training Series (PACTS) Delray Beach, FL 33445 Kzeno@adelphia.net
561-865-4593
Life, Family and Business Coach
Duncan Conference Center
15820 S. Military Trail
Delray Beach, FL 33484
561-496-4130
Ken Zeno is author of a forthcoming book, "Parents-as-Coaches", Values-Based, Heart-Centered Parenting in September 2007.
on 2/17/07 10:45 AM, Mark J. Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB at kittle@SIU.EDU wrote:
> ** AAHE in March...Be There!
> **
>
> Hi Folks,
> This request may seem morbid, but hey, sometimes I'm a morbid kind of guy.
>
> Last night we found out that the 17 year old idiot dating our 16 year
> old doesn't wear his seatbelt when driving. Of course both my wife
> and I tried to explain to him the logic of it but he just doesn't buy
> it. Needless to say our daughter will not be driving with him anymore
> (she's not happy about it but hey, what can we say).
>
> As we tried to explain to this kid that one of the major reasons to
> wear the belt is to help maintain control of the car after a crash
> (secondary impact can cause more problems than the first in many
> instances). Also, most deaths are because the person is ejected and
> the car rolled over them. This caught his eye.I have a couple of news
> paper articles about vehicle accidents that describe the victim was ejected and rolled over by the car.
> Of course the population in southern Illinois is relatively small and
> we don't have large number of accidents (although I think
> proportionally we are above the norm).
>
> What I would like to create is a large number of articles that
> specifically describe the cause of death by ejection and roll-over.
> If you find such an article would you either cut it out and mail it to
> me, or better yet, scan it and send it to me (don't send it over the
> HEDIR-it doesn't accept attachments). Please make sure it's the
> entire article and make sure you give the proper citations (newspaper,
> date, etc.)
>
> Now, I know some of you are going to think that such tactics don't work.
> I'm fully cognizant of the limitations, and that historically we
> (health
> education) don't encourage scare tactics. I think that is somewhat
> nearsighted. Granted, scare tactics may not work to a large extent
> for a long time, but it does have an impact on some people.as health
> educators we should have a large arsenal of 'gimmicks' to provide
> instruction. What this 'ex-boyfriend' of our daughter didn't realize
> that the rollover was a problem.he had 'never' heard of this.
>
> So for all future 'boyfriends', students, and others who refuse to
> wear seatbelts my goal would be for them to view this slide show
> listing death after death from people who didn't wear their seatbelt
> and were ejected and were crushed by their own car. Morbid yes.but I do need some help.
>
> Certainly after I compile a large number of these I would be happy to
> share with those individuals out in HEDIR land.especially to those who contribute.
>
> Thanks.
>
> P.S. If something like this has already been created, please let me know.
>
> Mark J. Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB
> Professor, Health Education
> Director of Graduate Studies
> Department of Health Education & Recreation Southern Illinois
> University
> 618-453-1841 (office)
> 618-453-1829 (fax)
>
>
> **
> ** Support the HEDIR With Your Gift
> ** www.hedir.org/support.htm
> **
> ** The HEDIR is Supported by Paid Advertising
> ** www.hedir.org to Learn More
> **
> **
**
** Support the HEDIR With Your Gift
**
** The HEDIR is Supported by Paid Advertising
** www.hedir.org to Learn More
**
**
------------------------------
#105
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:54:38 -0800
From: Dawn Graff-Haight <dghaight@LINFIELD.EDU>
Subject: Re: A Request
** AAHE in March...Be There!
**
Hi Mark,
If you were a student in my health education methods class, and that student had proposed the approach you were suggesting, here is what my reaction would be:
We know that in order to make good decisions, people need to know the facts, but that's only part of what is needed to influence the learner's behavior.
Learners also need to acquire skills. (Chances are "lothario" knows how to put on a seatbelt.) How about if you make a friendly suggestion for him to practice the skill for three weeks, just for the heck of it. Make a deal with him. If he wears a seatbelt for three weeks, you'll reward him and your daughter with a nice meal or concert tickets (provided he wears his seatbelt when he takes your daughter with him). You and I both know that three weeks of anything can lead to adoption of a healthy habit. So what if you're using a little trickery.
The other thing I'd encourage my student using this approach to consider, is how to approach the affective. If we learned anything from the SHES study, it was that even small gains in affective objectives produced significant behavioral outcomes. So, what would compell this guy to want to wear his seatbelt? I guess what I'm suggesting is that you add some questions within your slide show that will allow the viewer to respond to personalized scenarios such as:
Think of your best friend. Explain what you would say to his/her parents after your best friend was killed after you couldn't maintain control of the car in an accident because you weren't wearing a seatbelt.
What is your favorite sport or recreational activity? How would you feel if you could never participate in this again because of the injuries you sustained when you were ejected from your car after another driver went through a stop light and hit you.
Imagine your parents if you were the subject of one of these articles. How will their lives be different?
--On Saturday, February 17, 2007 9:45 AM -0600 "Mark J. Kittleson, PhD,
FAAHB" <kittle@SIU.EDU> wrote:
> ** AAHE in March...Be There!
> **
>
> Hi Folks,
>
>
>
> This request may seem morbid, but hey, sometimes I'm a morbid kind of guy.
>
>
>
> Last night we found out that the 17 year old idiot dating our 16 year old
> doesn't wear his seatbelt when driving. Of course both my wife and I
> tried to explain to him the logic of it but he just doesn't buy it.
> Needless to say our daughter will not be driving with him anymore (she's
> not happy about it but hey, what can we say).
>
>
>
> As we tried to explain to this kid that one of the major reasons to wear
> the belt is to help maintain control of the car after a crash (secondary
> impact can cause more problems than the first in many instances). Also,
> most deaths are because the person is ejected and the car rolled over
> them. This caught his eye.I have a couple of news paper articles about
> vehicle accidents that describe the victim was ejected and rolled over by
> the car. Of course the population in southern Illinois is relatively
> small and we don't have large number of accidents (although I think
> proportionally we are above the norm).
>
>
>
> What I would like to create is a large number of articles that
> specifically describe the cause of death by ejection and roll-over. If
> you find such an article would you either cut it out and mail it to me,
> or better yet, scan it and send it to me (don't send it over the HEDIR-it
> doesn't accept attachments). Please make sure it's the entire article
> and make sure you give the proper citations (newspaper, date, etc.)
>
>
>
> Now, I know some of you are going to think that such tactics don't work.
> I'm fully cognizant of the limitations, and that historically we (health
> education) don't encourage scare tactics. I think that is somewhat
> nearsighted. Granted, scare tactics may not work to a large extent for a
> long time, but it does have an impact on some people.as health educators
> we should have a large arsenal of 'gimmicks' to provide instruction.
> What this 'ex-boyfriend' of our daughter didn't realize that the rollover
> was a problem.he had 'never' heard of this.
>
>
>
> So for all future 'boyfriends', students, and others who refuse to wear
> seatbelts my goal would be for them to view this slide show listing death
> after death from people who didn't wear their seatbelt and were ejected
> and were crushed by their own car. Morbid yes.but I do need some help.
>
>
>
> Certainly after I compile a large number of these I would be happy to
> share with those individuals out in HEDIR land.especially to those who
> contribute.
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> P.S. If something like this has already been created, please let me know.
>
>
>
>
>
> Mark J. Kittleson, PhD, FAAHB
>
> Professor, Health Education
>
> Director of Graduate Studies
>
> Department of Health Education & Recreation
>
> Southern Illinois University
>
> 618-453-1841 (office)
>
> 618-453-1829 (fax)
>
>
> **
> ** Support the HEDIR With Your Gift
> ** www.hedir.org/support.htm
> **
> ** The HEDIR is Supported by Paid Advertising
> ** www.hedir.org to Learn More
> **
> **
**
** Support the HEDIR With Your Gift
**
** The HEDIR is Supported by Paid Advertising
** www.hedir.org to Learn More
**
**
------------------------------