Health Behavior: Smoking

Task description: This assignment is a 2,000 word essay where you will choose a health behaviour to discuss within a framework of one of the theories of health behaviour or health behaviour change covered in the unit lectures. Alternatively, you may want to contrast two theories as they relate to a health behaviour. Your task is to produce a critical consideration of the available literature on your chosen topic. You may choose smoking as health behaviour and use theory of planned behaviour to write this essay. Please to use a theory that has more literatures to write this essay. please use peer-reviewed articles as reference.

What you need to do: You can choose any health behaviour/issue; however it’s a good idea to choose a behaviour/issue that has a good amount of recent research. We will go through a range of health behaviours in the weeks 6 and 7 lectures, but you are not limited to these. You can also choose any health behaviour theory as a framework. The major health behaviour theories are covered in the week 2 materials. It’s a good idea to choose a theory that has a good amount of recent research relevant to your health behaviour.

Good assignments will go beyond discussion and description and will go into a synthesis of the findings of different studies demonstrating analytical and critical thinking. This is often a distinguishing feature of the best essays submitted within this unit.

Some notes on structure are provided below, however there is some flexibility around this, the most important thing is to address the criteria on the rubric.

Length: The 2,000-word limit includes all sections except the title page, abstract, and references section. In-text citations within the main text count toward the word limit. Please include your word count on the title page.

PENALTY FOR EXCEEDING WORD LIMIT

While a word count of up to 10% over the word limit will be accepted, for assignments that exceed this acceptable limit, 10% of the total mark available (e.g., 5/50 marks) will be deducted.

There is no penalty for being under the word limit, but do consider whether you have fully addressed all aspects of the task.

Style and Formatting: The assignment should be in APA style (7th ed) and contain a title page, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and reference list. The following resources can be used as a guide:

Shakespeare-Finch, J. (2020). A Guide to Formatting in Psychology (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Use double spacing throughout the paper with no extra spaces between paragraphs, sections, or references. Everything should be written out in full sentences, no bullet points.

Structure: Of course depending on your approach this could vary and my suggestion will always be to use the rubric to guide you as you prepare your assessment to make sure that you are covering all criteria. But below is a very basic structure you could use to start you off. This only applies to if you have chosen one health behaviour/issue and one theory, i.e. you are not doing a ‘compare and contrast’ of two theories. If you are doing a compare and contrast of two theories you would essentially reduce the explanations and literature review so that you are covering both theories and then also dedicate a section to your comparisons.

Introductory paragraph:

Outlines health behaviour and provides information to demonstrate its significance (including relevant statistics etc.), and introduces scope of essay (including naming theory/theories that are being evaluated).

Body paragraph 1:

Outline theory broadly and provide general links to health behaviour.

Body paragraphs 2 and 3:

Outline theory in more detail, applying specific aspects of theory to more specific aspects of the chosen behaviour. Outline how the theory predicts and explains the behaviour in question.

Body paragraphs 4 to 8:

Review and evaluate literature related to theory based behaviour interventions and discuss applications and implications of reviewed literature.

Conclusion

Draw main points of essay together and also incorporate future research/recommendations.

Please note that in your assignment, everything needs to be described in your own words. Do not copy anything word-for-word from sources (e.g., articles or tutorial slides). You need to demonstrate your own understanding and effective communication skills. When describing the literature, aim to summarise and synthesise (in your own words), and cite the relevant sources. The use of artificial intelligence tools to contribute to or complete this assessment is NOT permitted.