Implementing Social Norm Pedagogy to Impact Students’ Personal Health Behavior

Mary M. Kramer*, Sheri Stover**
* Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology & Health, Wright State University, Ohio, USA.
** Associate Professor, Department of Leadership Studies in Education and Organizations, Wright State University, Ohio. USA.
Periodicity:October - December'2015
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jet.12.3.3740

Abstract

This quantitative exploratory research study describes the incorporation of Social Norms as a unique pedagogical method in an undergraduate Health Behaviors course (N = 32). With the use of an audience response system (clickers), students anonymously answered health-behavior related questions. Aggregate data from the class was compared to state and national data from readily available databases to encourage student engagement, bring relevance to theoretical concepts, and launch meaningful discussion. The results from the data show that, the incorporation of the Social Norms teaching methodology had a strong impact on students adopting more positive attitudes (88%) toward their own health-related behaviors, and also resulted in changes to their own behaviors (72%). Fifty-six percent of students made suggestions to family and/or friends regarding health-related behavior change. Students gave a strong recommendation to both the use of clickers (87%) and Social Norms pedagogy (84%). Students reported having high levels of truthfulness (94%) in their responses and the majority (85%) felt comfortable with their clicker responses being anonymous. Among the small percentage (15%) of students who reported feeling uncomfortable discussing personal health-behaviors in class, no relationship was found between students' comfort level and gender, religious beliefs, or political beliefs.

Keywords

Clickers, Social Norms, Health Education, Educational Technology.

How to Cite this Article?

Kramer, M.M. and Stover, S. (2015). Implementing Social Norm Pedagogy to Impact Students’ Personal Health Behavior. i-manager’s Journal of Educational Technology, 12(3), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.26634/jet.12.3.3740

References

[2]. Bandura, A. (1976). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[3]. Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
[4]. Bandura, A. (1994). “Social cognitive theory and exercise of control over HIV infection”. In R. J. DiClemente and L. L. Peterson (Eds.), Preventing AIDS: Theories and Methods of Behavioral Interventions, pp. 25-59, New York, NY: Plenum.
[5]. Berkowitz, A. D. (2002). “Fostering men's responsibility for preventing sexual assault”. Chapter 7 in Paul A Schewe (Ed.), Preventing Violence in Relationships: Interventions across the Life Span, pp.163-196. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
[7]. Berkowitz, A. D. (2005). “An overview of the social norms approach”. In L. C. Lederman & L. P. Stewart (Eds.), Changing the culture of college drinking: A socially situated health communication campaign. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.
[10]. Christensen, S., and Haines, M. (2004). “Communities use a social norms approach to reduce teen alcohol and tobacco use: Two case studies”. 2004 National Conference on the social norms model. The report on social norms: Working paper #14. Little Falls, NJ: PaperClip Communications.
[11]. Colledge, R. (2002). Mastering Counseling Theory. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
[13]. Deaton, S. (2015). Social learning theory in the age of social media: Implications for educational practitioners. imanager's Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 12(1), pp. 1-6.
[14]. Dimeff, L., Baerk, J., Kvilahan, D., and Marlatt, A. S. (1999). Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students: A Harm Reduction Approach (Basics). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
[15]. Durant, L.E., Carey, M. P., and Schroder, K. E. E. (2002). “Effects of anonymity, gender, and erotophilia on the quality of data obtained from self-reports of socially sensitive behaviors”. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Vol.25(5), pp.438-467.
[16]. Far, J.,& Miller, J. (2003). “The small group norms challenging model: Social norms interventions with targeted high risk groups”. In H. W. Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, clinicians, pp. 111-132. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
[17]. Ganster, D. C., Hennessey, H. W., and Luthans, F. (1983). “Social desirability response effects: Three different models”. Academy of Management Journal, Vol.26, pp.955–966.
[18]. Grusec, J. E. (1992). “Social learning theory and developmental psychology: The legacies of Robert Sears and Albert Bandura”. Developmental Psychology, Vol.28(7), pp.776-786.
[19]. Haines, M. P., and Barker, G. (2003). “The NIU experiment: A case study of the social norms approach”. In H. W. Perkins (Ed.), The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians, pp. 21–34. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
[21]. Keller, A., and Bauerle, J. A. (2009). “Using a logic model to relate the strategic to the tactical in program planning and evaluation: An illustration based on social norms interventions”. American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol.24(2), pp.89-92.
[22]. Killos, L. F., Hancock, L. C., McGann, A. W., and Keller, A. E. (2010). “Do “clicker” educational sessions enhance the effectiveness of a social norms marketing campaign?” Journal of American College Health, Vol.59(3), pp.228-230.
[24]. Larimer, M. E.,and Neighbors, C. (2003). “Normative misperception and the impact of descriptive and injunctive norms on college student gambling”. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Vol.17(3), pp.225-243.
[27]. Ott, C. H., and Doyle, L. H. (2005). “An evaluation of the small group norms challenging model: Changing substance use misperceptions in five urban high schools”. The High School Journal, Vol.88, pp.45-55.
[28]. Perkins, H. W., and Berkowitz, A. D. (1986). “Perceiving the community norms of alcohol use among students: Some research implications for campus alcohol education programming”. International Journal of the Addictions, Vol.21, pp.961-976.
[29]. Perkins, H. W., Haines, M., and Rice, R. (2005). “Misperceiving the college drinking norm and related problems: A nationwide study of exposure to prevention information, perceived norms and student alcohol misuse”. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol.66(4), pp.470-478.
[30]. Prentice, D. (2012). “The psychology of social norms and the promotion of human rights”. In R. Goodman, D. Junks, & A. K. Woods, (Eds), Understanding Social Action, Promoting Human Rights, pp. 23-46. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
[33]. Singh, K. (2007). Quantitative Social Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[34]. Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal Behavior. New York: NY: Appleton Century Crofts.
[35]. Toch, H., and Klofas, J. (1984). “Pluralistic ignorance, revisited”. In G. M. Stephenson & J. H. Davis (Eds.), Progress in Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 129-159. New York, NY: Wiley.
[36]. Turner, J. C. (1991). Social Influence. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
[37]. Turner, J., Perkins, H. W., and Bauerle, J. (2008). “Declining negative consequences related to alcohol misuse among students exposed to a social norms marketing intervention on a college campus”. Journal of American College Health, Vol.57(1), pp.85-94.
If you have access to this article please login to view the article or kindly login to purchase the article

Purchase Instant Access

Single Article

North Americas,UK,
Middle East,Europe
India Rest of world
USD EUR INR USD-ROW
Pdf 35 35 200 20
Online 35 35 200 15
Pdf & Online 35 35 400 25

Options for accessing this content:
  • If you would like institutional access to this content, please recommend the title to your librarian.
    Library Recommendation Form
  • If you already have i-manager's user account: Login above and proceed to purchase the article.
  • New Users: Please register, then proceed to purchase the article.