Question: Building Support Groups in a Health Education Setting

Prior to completing this discussion, review the qualities of a good leader in Table 6-1 on page 141 of your course textbook.

According to Bensley and Brookins-Fisher (2009), "Support groups are structured groups that focus on a specific problem, task or theme and incorporate both interpersonal and educational gains" (p. 133). In other words, support groups are developed in order to brainstorm and discuss solutions to a problem and in doing so the individuals gain both personal and educational skills.

Part I: Keeping in mind the importance and role of support groups, imagine you are tasked with starting a support group for overweight teens (both male and female) in a high school setting.

• Examine at least three leadership skills you would require in order to be successful in promoting effective discussions aimed at finding solutions, while building both personal and educational skills for the teens. (Please note that just providing a list of skills is inappropriate.

You must identify the skill and explain what it means when applied to this population. Those two elements combined - identify and explain - make up the examination as required.)

Part II: After making your appraisal of the necessary leadership skills needed to operate this support group,

• Examine elements of effective health education programs and create an introductory script that you would use to introduce this support group to sophomores (15- to 16-year olds) at a local high school assembly (assume more than 100 students are in the audience of all heights and weights). You will be in the school's gymnasium and the principal has asked you to introduce the concept of this support group and to invite interested participants to attend. Be conscious that the gym will contain young men and women of all different body compositions, so you will not want to draw unwanted attention to anyone. This is part of the challenge of this exercise.

What is your pitch? Consider the following questions when you write your script:

• How can you use your leadership skills in a speech to pique the interest of high school sophomores to attend this support group?

• To earn respect as a professional, identify the traits of professionalism that you want to display and provide examples of ways you can display them to this audience.

Your initial post must utilize at least two scholarly sources, in addition to your textbook. The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. Sources must be cited according to 6th edition APA format as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center in the In-Text Citation Guide and In-Text Citation Helper video. Please be sure to view the Quick ‘n' Dirty tutorial for more information on the Ashford University Library, the research process, and library search tips.