Building Support Groups in a Health Education Setting   

Prior to completing this discussion, review the qualities of a good leader in Table 6-1 on page 141 of your course textbook. 

According to Bensley and Brookins-Fisher (2009), “Support groups are  structured groups that focus on a specific problem, task or theme and  incorporate both interpersonal and educational gains” (p. 133). In other  words, support groups are developed in order to brainstorm and discuss  solutions to a problem and in doing so the individuals gain both  personal and educational skills. 

Part I: Keeping in mind the importance and role of  support groups, imagine you are tasked with starting a support group for  overweight teens (both male and female) in a high school setting.

• Examine at least three leadership skills you would require in order  to be successful in promoting effective discussions aimed at finding  solutions, while building both personal and educational skills for the  teens. (Please note that just providing a list of skills is  inappropriate. You must identify the skill and explain what it means  when applied to this population. Those two elements combined – identify  and explain – make up the examination as required.)

Part II: After making your appraisal of the necessary leadership skills needed to operate this support group,

• Examine elements of effective health education programs and create  an introductory script that you would use to introduce this support  group to sophomores (15- to 16-year olds) at a local high school  assembly (assume more than 100 students are in the audience of all  heights and weights). You will be in the school’s gymnasium and the  principal has asked you to introduce the concept of this support group  and to invite interested participants to attend. Be conscious that the  gym will contain young men and women of all different body compositions,  so you will not want to draw unwanted attention to anyone. This is part  of the challenge of this exercise.

What is your pitch? Consider the following questions when you write your script:

• How can you use your leadership skills in a speech to pique the interest of high school sophomores to attend this support group?
• To earn respect as a professional, identify the traits of  professionalism that you want to display and provide examples of ways  you can display them to this audience.

Your initial post must utilize at least two scholarly sources, in addition to your textbook.  The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. Sources  must be cited according to 6th edition APA format as outlined in the  Ashford Writing Center in the In-Text Citation Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and In-Text Citation Helper (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. video. Please be sure to view the Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. tutorial for more information on the Ashford University Library, the research process, and library search tips.