WELLNESS MODEL

Culturally Competent Wellness Model

Culturally Competent Wellness Model

The goal of creating and maintaining Wellness among adults has gained popularity recently; however this popularity has come at a time when physical education is disappearing from our schools and obesity, even in toddlers, is on the rise two factors that do not indicate improvements, nor a focus, on the well-being of American citizens (Mokdad, Bowman, Ford, Vinicor, Marks & Koplan, 2001). This proposal includes working with 10-13 years old girls at our local Middle school in East Bridgewater MA. The first part of the proposal defines Wellness and its related components—internal and external sources. The second part examines the nature of Wellness and disease prevention strategies.

After completing the first stage, we will conduct a 12 week after school program on teaching them nutrition classes, cooking classes, growing a vegetable garden, exercise classes weekly two times a week. We will also get services of a gym teacher in the community involved to teach the girls about general nutrition guidelines using the USDA food pyramid, and the American Heart Association kids program and of course the ACSM guidelines for children between these ages to show proper exercise guidelines.

What Is Wellness?

To be well is not the same as being healthy. The latter implies that one is free of disease and infirmity and has the ability to respond to the changing environment on both a cellular and social level. Health is generally based on physiological variables, such as blood pressure, muscular strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular conditioning, all of which work together to keep the body in balance. Maintaining a high level of health is important, but it is just one component of being well (Nichols & Berliner, 2007). Although the term Wellness exists on a continuum from a state of disease to optimal living, it is generally understood as an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. It involves self-responsibility, the desire to maintain balance, and the ability to resource energy required for appropriate tasks. Wellness is not a place where one arrives but rather a constantly evolving state of positive well-being. Ultimately, to be well implies functioning at a level oriented toward maximizing the potential of which an individual is capable a state often associated with life satisfaction.

Although conceptions of Wellness vary, the differences are slight. Wellness can be best understood as a multidimensional model that includes both internal and external sources of influence (Nichols & Good, 2004). Internal sources are connected to the individual and include social, emotional, intellectual, psychological, physical, and spiritual dimensions. External sources are connected to the environment and include things like government, family, school, career, culture, as well air and water. Internal sources can be understood as a circular and interactive model (often called the Wellness wheel), in which no dimension is of greater importance than another. Thus, the internal dimensions share properties of being independent and interdependent in nature; that is, movement in each dimension has an effect on other ...