Retrospective Blog #1

So I'm in grad school and I am taking a course called Theories of Health Behavior (or something like that). The initial assignment was a paper designed to help us understand the difference between (1) a health issue, (2) a health behavior, and (3) determinants. Very brief, simplified explanation: a health issue would be something that occurs in society (i.e. obesity); the associated health behaviors are things that impact that issue (i.e. lack of exercise); and determinants are things that determine (like that?) whether or not the behavior will occur (i.e. access to a gym, time, etc.). Got it? Okay - Issue, Behavior, Determinants.

Okay, that was probably more information than you needed to understand the point, but whatever. There were a lot of people having a difficult time understand the difference between the three things. To help us understand, our professor encouraged us to walk through the same process (outlining issue, behavior and determinants) for a random behavior, i.e. someone standing in a bus line bouncing a volleyball. Now, what are all the determinants for why the person would perform that behavior? Could be boredom, habit, stress level, any number of things.

This is the real point - if you only have a limited amount of time, start reading here:

By taking a moment to step back and think of what all the determinants for a given behavior could be, it helps us cope better with the world and be more understanding of other people.

For example,

(SIDEBAR: Supposedly, when I grow up I am going to be a teacher, I guess that is why I talk in examples.)

If you are in the store buying something and the checker is going soo slow or keeps messing things up, you could get frustrated and be really rude to the person. But, if you take a second to think of what all the possible determinants of that behavior are, you may find a little patience. The person may be sick, they may have physical or mental disability that prevents them from working as fast as you think they should be capable of. They may have not had enough sleep because they stayed up late talking to a friend in need. Their cat may have been run over and now only have 3 legs. It could be anything. Regardless, if you think of the numerous reasons that they may be acting (or not acting) a certain way, hopefully you'll be able to muster a little compassion for them.

So next time someone does something that makes you angry or that you simply don't understand - instead of being judgemental, try a little tenderness :)