CASE STUDY 1

Ronnie has been working to help others in the community with getting groceries and cleaning up their property after Hurricane Tootsie damaged many houses in his area. Mood and physical activity have been steadily improving for Ronnie since helping others. His friends, who often compliment him on his work, have been unwilling to help. So, he is looking for some way to influence their behaviors and start helping. He is trying to answer the following questions about how to get others to help with community relief efforts.

How can Ronnie:

• Identify important health issues related to altruism.
• Apply methods for identifying and building altruism when appropriate.
• Create a list of social influencers of altruism in our current community and within his social network.

Case Study 2

Janet has been working for a medical center where she often feels it is high pressure. She has been complimented on her efforts but thinks she will not be promoted because she is just, “too average” compared to the people she works with. She has recently been losing sleep, eating junk food, and stopped going to social gatherings. Please help Janet understand these issues related to locus of control:

• Review the theory of locus of control in her case.
• Analyze how locus of control impacts this specific employment scenario and her health behaviors.
• Applying a locus of control intervention to improve her health.

Case Study 3

Riley has been working in the sports medicine center since her freshman year, She is now a sophomore. During the day she enjoys watch and talking with the athletes that visit. She notices that 3 of the athletic trainers talk about being burnout. They work long hours, early mornings, and late nights/weekends. She also has observed many of the trainers missing classes to treat athletes even though they are taking courses. The culture in the athletic training room is that all priorities must be given to athletes regardless of personal needs or schedules. Please help Riley help these athletic trainers by discussing the following:

• Identify important strategies to help resiliency coping.
• Reflect on cultural definitions of resiliency and social norms that develop and disrupt resiliency.
• Describe a theory of burnout?

CASE STUDY 4

Tiana has been working hard to keep her academic performance high, She is a perfectionist, often exercising, eating well, and staying involved in many service-oriented organizations. During the last three weeks, she is only sleeping 3-4 hours a night. This week has been particularly bad. Feeling sick, she goes to the health center and they cannot find anything to pinpoint what is happening with her loss of sleep. Help Tiana understand the answers to the following questions:

• Identify important cycles of sleep.
• Review models of sleep deprivation and insomnia.
• Examine how multiple health-related issues can be treated simultaneously through a good comprehensive sleep intervention strategy.