HHPA 171 - Peer Health: CHOICES

1 credit Fall Mondays 7-7:50pm, Renshaw 104

1 credit Spring Tuesdays 6-6:50pm, HHPA 112

Catalog Description: Information, methods and resources for planning and implementing peer health education programs for alcohol and drug prevention.

Objectives: This course will provide students with the necessary background to be peer health educators to reduce underage and high risk drinking. The desired outcome of this course is to bring students to the point where they can effectively plan, implement and evaluate prevention strategies including: discussion sessions presented to their peers, Friday Night Activities, and media to correct misperceptions. The training will focus on three areas: knowledge about alcohol and its effects; promising practices for prevention; and implementing prevention programs (planning, marketing, communicating, critical thinking, facilitating discussion, and building trust).

Requirements:

?        Class Attendance 60 points (5 points per class): Active participation in class. More than two (2) absences will need to be made up.

?        Weekly Reflections 110 points (10 points each): Submitting a personal, confidential reflection, no attachments please, each week by Friday at 12PM, to informedchoices@linfield.edu will be required of all students. Late submissions receive fewer points. Reflections will need to be submitted even if absent.

?        Friday Night Live/SH&WT/Other Event 50 points (25 points each):  Attend 2 events: FNL event OR Student Health & Wellness Team meetings. Email a one-page reflection summary for each event.

?        Practice Introduction/Presentation to Team/Organization 30 points: The last part of the training will be devoted to revising one of four alcohol discussion formats and making a presentation to your team/organization (can be with a previously trained Informed CHOICES student). Write a one page reflection paper on how the information was received and what you perceive as the value of the presentation.

?        Behavior:  As a peer health educator you are a student role model and will be perceived as being a resource. Your use of alcohol and your behavior will be observed by other students. To sustain the credibility of the program, we ask that all peer health educators who choose to drink, follow low risk guidelines, in addition to college policy and state laws. Facebook:  Please edit the content of your Facebook profile to align with these behavior standards (removing any unacceptable photos, declining membership to inappropriate groups, etc). We will be using this electronic tool for class; it is important that you set an example here as well. If we can see it, anyone else can too!

Grading: 250 points total                     250-235: A            224-218: B+            199-193: C+            174-150: D
                                                        234-225: A-           217-210: B               192-183: C              <149: F
                                                        209-200: B-           182-175: C-

Special Accommodations: Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, who have any emergency medical information the instructor should know of, or who need special arrangements in the event of evacuation, should make an appointment with the instructor as early as possible, no later than the first week of the term.

Academic Honesty: Linfield College has a policy regarding academic honesty. All students enrolled in this course are expected to follow it. The policy can be found in the Student Handbook and Planner. If unsure about whether your work reflects an appropriate level of “academic honesty” do not hesitate to discuss the matter with the instructor before the work is started.

Illness/Medical Policy: As you have undoubtedly been reading, the H1N1 flu has not taken a summer break and has continued to spread.  It is just another flu lasting a week to ten days), but this flu targets children and young adults. To this will be added the “normal” seasonal flu that usually arrives in November. Linfield has established a flu alert page on the web: http://www.linfield.edu/flu.html and we will be hosting flu shot clinics for students, faculty and staff.