Making Decisions About Your Health

1. Making Decisions About Your Health Mr. Royer

2. Definitions • Risk Behavior – Possibility that an action may cause injury or harm to you or others. • Decision – Is a choice you make and act upon. • Decision Making – The process of making a choice or finding a solution. • Good Decision – Is a decision in which you have carefully considered the outcome of each choice. • Personal Responsibility – To take personal responsibility for your decision is to accept how your decision will affect yourself and other people.

3. Definitions • Values – Are beliefs that you consider to be of great importance. • Character – Is the way that people think, feel, and act. • Influence – Is a force that affects your choices when you have a decision to make. • Peer Pressure – Is the pressure that you feel to do something because your friends want you to do it. • Consequences – Is a result of an action that you take. • Precaution – A planned action taken before an event to increase the chance of safe outcomes and avoid negative consequences.

4. Being In Control • A great deal of people tell you what to do. • Parents, Teachers, Coaches, Friends. • However, there are many thing you have control over, such as making decisions. • You make decisions daily. • A decision is a choice you make and act upon. • Making good decisions take careful consideration of all outcomes. • Along with making decisions comes personal responsibility. • Therefore, a good decision = a responsible decision.

5. Values and Decision Making • Your decisions are based on your values. • Values = beliefs of great importance to you. • Many of your values come from the things your parents/guardians have taught you. • Other values develop over time and are based on personal experiences. • Not everyone has the same values as you. • Good values include… • Respect for yourself and other. • Responsibility. • Honesty. • Self-Control. • Trustworthiness.

6. Character and Decision Making • Having good values will help you live responsibly and develop good character. • Character is the way people think, feel, and act. • When your character is based on positive values, you will develop attitudes and habits that make it easier to make good decisions. • Every good decision made is practice for making other good decisions. • To make a good decision you must be able to figure out what exactly is the problem. • Incorrectly identifying the problem will lead to a wrong decision.

7. The Decision Making Process • State the situation or identify the problem. • Consider your values, beliefs, and ideas that are important to you and your family. • List the options – Ways to deal with the situation. • Weigh the possible outcomes, results, or consequences. • Make a decision and act. • Evaluate the decision. Was it a good choice?

8. The Decision Making Process • The decision making process is the same 6 steps for every situation or problem. • By following the six steps, you have a better chance of making a good decision. • Sometimes you may run through the 6 steps quickly, other time the 6 step process will take days or weeks to run through. • Remember to carefully work through the problem, your values, your options, and the consequences. • Learn from your mistakes so that you can do even better the next time!

9. Influences on Your Decisions - Family • The members of your family most likely had the greatest influence on you so far. • The members of your family set standards and have expectations that are based on their values and cultural traditions. • You learn these standards, expectations, and values as you grow up. • They in turn affect everything that you think and do. • What are decisions that are influenced by your family? • Why certain people are your friends, what you do for fun, how you celebrate holidays.

10. Influences on Your Decisions - Peers • Your peers are vary major influences, especially when you are a teenager. • Peers influence what you think or how you act through peer pressure. • Peer pressure can be positive or negative. • Positive Peer Pressure – Influences you to do something that benefits you. • What are some examples of positive peer pressure? • Studying with a group of people who want to do well on a test, may make you study harder. • Negative Peer Pressure – Influences you to do something that could harm you or others. • What are some examples of negative peer pressure? • Being mean to someone only when you are around certain people.

11. Influences on Your Decisions - Peers • Peer pressure affects your decisions more than you may think… • How many activities do you do without your friends? • Who helps you choose the music you listen to or the clothes you wear? • Peer pressure can affect your health if you let it convince you to take risks with your body. • What are examples of risk that may affect your health? • Taking drugs, Drinking alcohol, Riding with dangerous or underage drivers. • There is strong feelings for the need to fit in, but do NOT let these feelings influence you to do harmful things.

12. Influences on Your Decisions - Media • You hear media messages daily, they tell you what to buy and why to buy it. • How much of what they say is just to influence you to buy their product? • Products can not always do everything that the advertisers claim. • Commercials are designed to make money for a particular company that sells that product in the advertisement. • The claims are usually exaggerated.

13. Influences on Your Decisions - Media • However, the media often reports information that makes a difference. • New discoveries or inventions can change what people do. • Media can have a positive effect on your life, you just need to learn to recognize what messages are true.

14. Evaluating Your Influences When Making a Decision • How do you know who to listen to? • A good rule is to trust the people who know and care about you. • Family members and good friends can usually be trusted because they want what is best for you. • A trusted teacher or school counselor can also give you advice about good vs. bad influences.

15. Examining Your Decision – Weighing The Consequences • Whenever you act on a decision, there is a consequence. • Consequences can be positive or negative. • Examine the consequences and take the necessary precautions. • Ask yourself would my decision… • Uphold my values? • Set a good or poor example for others? • Cause emotional pain to me or others? • Help me reach my goals? Or keep me from my goals? • Harm me or someone else physically? • Help others? • Strengthen or weaken relationships with my friends?

16. Examining Your Decision – Practice Makes Perfect • The more you practice the decision making process, the easier it will be to use. • You can rehearse making decision by mentally thinking through the 6 step decision making process in advance. • When you face a problem that you do NOT know how to solve be sure to ask a trusted adult, parent, teacher, or friend for advice.