Goal-setting education as a weekly focus with a personal health and wellness course

Goal-setting education as a weekly focus with a personal health and wellness course 

Each semester I teach a course titled “Personal Health and Wellness.” Twenty to thirty students consistently register for the course and they are required to study content within several health and wellness topics such as psychological health, physical fitness, nutrition, drug abuse, tobacco use, heart disease, infectious disease, and sexual health.  The course objectives are consistent with the Montana Health Education Standards, including objective 6: to demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance their health.

In an effort to address objective 6 of the Montana Health Education standards and teach in a culturally responsive way, I recently integrated a series of goal –setting activities into my Personal Health and Wellness course. The goal of this novel integration was to teach students how to effectively use goal-setting to improve an aspect of their life.  Consistent with goal theory, I expected that if they experienced success with a thoughtful and appropriate goal, students would have improved levels of hope and self-efficacy.