ACHIEVE is composed of two sequential phases, with the option to complete only phase I or both phases. Content in the form of modules accompanies each phase. Details for Phase II can be found under the Community Health Innovation Projects (CHIPs) page.

Phase I: Education for Health Empowerment

Phase I contains 8 modules covering health literacy topics that are aligned with National Health Education Standards and Pennsylvania Department of Education Standards. Each module takes 20-60 minutes to complete, and consists of a presentation, note sheet, case study, activity, and pre-/post-test.

Modules 1-3 are the core modules, and should be taught in any location implementing ACHIEVE in its entirety. Locations may choose individually out of modules 4-8 which ones they feel best fit their community, although we recommend teaching as many modules as possible. Modules 9-11 were created supplementally and thus do not have all the resources included in the initial 8, but all have pre- and post-tests.

Module 1: Factors that Affect Health

Objectives: 

  1. Define health and discuss its multiple dimensions. Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being; not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

  2. Describe the social-ecological model of health and the social determinants of health. Individual, relationship, community, and societal factors can all affect health. The Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age, that affect health outcomes.

Teaching Resources:

 Module 1 Note Sheet

Module 1 Case Study

Module 2: Accessing Valid Health Information and Services

Objectives: 

  1. Learn how to effectively evaluate health information. Some things to think about when evaluating quality and accuracy of online health information are to consider the source, focus on quality, be skeptical, and look for evidence. Government agencies, colleges and universities, health organizations, and hospitals all tend to be sources you can trust.

  2. Identify relevant health services. These vary by location, but the module aims to teach students types of health services, types of providers, and how and when to access health services.

Teaching Resources:

Module 2 Note Sheet

Module 2 Case Study

Module 3: Mental and Emotional Wellness

Objectives:

  1. Recognize the scope of mental health disorders and their impact. Many more people struggle with mental health disorders than you might think. Your mental health impacts your thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships, work or schoolwork, and even your eating and sleeping, so taking care of your mental health and treating disorders is extremely important. Some of the most common mental health disorders are anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and substance abuse disorders.

  2. Analyze common factors that influence mental health. The factors that can affect your mental health are called risk factors and protective factors. Risk factors raise the chance of developing a mental health disorder, and can include heritability and stress. Protective factors lower the chance of developing a mental health disorder, and can include having an easy-going personality, exercising, having social and emotional support, and having access to mental health providers.

  3. Identify warning signs for suicide and available mental health or crisis resources. Warning signs for suicide include threatening to hurt or kill oneself, hopelessness, increasing drug and/or alcohol use, and dramatic mood changes. If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255), text the Crisis Text Line (741741), or go to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s website (sprc.org).

  4. Identify substance use issues and preventative measures. Substance abuse disorders are very common, and dramatically increase one’s chance of death. Some of the most commonly abused substances are alcohol, opioids, tobacco/nicotine, and marijuana. One of the best ways to prevent substance abuse issues or work on quitting a substance is by finding different, more healthy coping mechanisms. This can include exercising, spending time with loved ones, or finding a hobby that makes you happy.

Teaching Resources:

Module 3 Note Sheet

Module 3 Case Study

Module 4: Understanding Healthcare and Medical Terminology

Objectives:

  1. Identify body-part word roots. Understanding medical terminology is an important part of understanding your healthcare. By learning common roots of medical words, you can make an educated guess as to what the word might mean, or what it might be about.

  2. Analyze how prefixes and suffixes affect the meaning of words. Once you know what body part or illness a word might refer to, you should look at whether there is a prefix or suffix that affects the root of the word.

  3. Introduce common medical terms and abbreviations. While it is important to know how to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words, some healthcare and medical terms are used very commonly, and are useful to know. The same goes for abbreviations and acronyms.

Teaching Resources:

Module 4 Note Sheet

Module 4 Case Study

Module 5: Making the Most of Medical Appointments

Objectives:

  1. Understand how and why it is important to share your medical history with your providers. A medical history is a record of information about a person’s health. Family medical histories can be relevant to your health because they might tell your health provider of any illnesses you might be at higher risk of developing. Once they know this, they can monitor symptoms for those illnesses so that they are noticed quickly if they do arise.

  2. Recognize effective strategies for communicating with your doctor to get the most from your appointment. Communicating effectively with your doctor is important because they need as much information as possible to correctly diagnose any problems, or to know if any problems exist. They can also warn you of risk factors that might lead to problems later. Be prepared to communicate with your doctor by thinking beforehand about what problems are present, when they began, and anything that might be related.

Teaching Resources:

Module 5 Note Sheet

Module 5 Case Study

Module 6: Communicating to Enhance Health

Objectives:

  1. Introduce health communicating and the attributes of effective health communication. Health communication is the study and use of communication practices to inform and influence individual decisions that enhance health (CDC). Some tips for communicating effectively are to be prepared, be clear and concise, and to be an engaged listener. Benefits of effective health communication include improving your own health, improving the health of your loved ones, improving your relationship with healthcare practitioners, and helping improve the healthcare system as a whole.

  2. Recognize interpersonal strategies for conflict management and to avoid health risks. Conflict resolution is the negotiation between 2 or more parties to find a peaceful solution to a disagreement among them. The 3 goals of conflict resolution are to produce a solution that all parties can agree to, to work as quickly as possible to find the solution, and to improve the relationship between the parties in conflict. There are 7 steps to conflict resolution: understand the conflict, communicate with the opposite side, brainstorm possible solutions, choose the best solution, use a 3rd-party mediator, explore alternatives, and cope with stressful situations or pressure tactics.

  3. Identify how and why it is important to ask for help. There are many reasons to ask for help, including if you’re overloaded with responsibilities, if you’re having trouble coping with stress, or if you’re struggling with a crisis. Some tips for asking for help are to ask when you need it instead of worrying about finding the “right time,” to remind yourself that nobody is expected to do everything by themselves, and that you are only human, and no human is perfect. If you need to, practice asking for help in your head or in a mirror before you approach someone.

Teaching Resources:

Module 6 Note Sheet

Module 6 Case Study

Module 7: Behavior and Health

Objectives:

  1. Recognize the impact that individual behavior has on health. Individual behavior is a determinant of health, and there is a strong relationship between unhealthy behavior or habits and chronic disease. In fact, most chronic diseases are preventable through healthy behaviors. Developing positive habits can improve long-term health and wellbeing.

  2. Evaluate the benefits and barriers to practicing healthy behaviors. Healthy behaviors, such as healthy eating and regular physical activity, have numerous health benefits. Some benefits of practicing healthy behaviors include reducing the risk of disease or other health problems, improving energy levels, improving overall wellbeing, and living longer. Sometimes, though, practicing healthy behaviors can be difficult. Identifying roadblocks to healthy behavior can help us find solutions to make practicing the healthy behaviors easier.

Teaching Resources:

Module 7 Note Sheet

Module 7 Case Study

Module 8: Physical Wellness

Objectives:

  1. Understand basic nutrition principles. Healthy eating is important because it lowers the risk of developing numerous health problems, including obesity, heart disease, cancer, dental diseases, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Healthy eating patterns include having a balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. Nutrition labels can help you see how healthy the foods you buy are. The module guides students through reading and understanding nutrition labels.

  2. Recognize the importance of physical activity. Just like healthy eating, physical activity has many benefits including improving mood, lowering blood pressure, improving blood circulation, stronger bones, muscles, and joints, maintaining a healthy weight, and lowering cholesterol levels. There are three components to physical activity: activities that help your heart, activities that help your bones, and activities that help your muscles. Including some of each ensures that you are benefitting the most from your physical activity.
Teaching Resources:

Module 8 Note Sheet

Module 8 Case Study

Module 9: Suicide Prevention

This brief supplemental module expands on the suicide prevention portion of Module 3: Mental and Emotional Wellness. The composition of this module makes it usable in a variety of settings other than the traditional classroom, such as assemblies, or as an accompaniment to a separate suicide prevention project or initiative.

Teaching Resources:

Module 10: Social Media Presence and Cyberbullying

This brief supplemental module explores the safety and impact of social media, and how it affects health. The composition of this module makes it usable in a variety of settings other than the traditional classroom, such as assemblies, or as an accompaniment to a separate social media or cyberbullying project or initiative.

Teaching Resources:

Module 11: COVID-19

These supplemental modules were created as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially after noticing an abundance of misconceptions and lack of knowledge about the illness in various settings. In an effort to explain COVID-19 as thoroughly as possible, this module is divided into 4 sub-modules.

Module 11a: Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The word “pandemic” is frequently used in resources about COVID-19, despite many people not knowing what the word means. This module explains what pandemics are, how viruses spread, and the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic specifically.

Teaching Resources:
Module 11b: COVID-19 Prevention and Symptoms

While nearly everyone is aware that COVID-19 exists, there are many misconceptions about what methods are effective at preventing contraction of the virus. This module explains how to perform these preventative methods properly. The module also explains COVID-19 symptoms, what they mean, and the severity of each one.

Teaching Resources:
Module 11c: COVID-19 Vaccines

Immunizations are already common for a number of viruses, but many are still confused about how they work and why they’re effective at preventing sickness. The biggest 3 COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. also differ from the majority of vaccines for other illnesses because they don’t introduce a weakened or dead virus into the body, furthering any public confusion about said vaccines. This module aims to clarify any misconceptions or confusion not only about COVID-19 vaccines specifically, but also about vaccines in general.

Teaching Resources:
Module 11d: Caring for Mental Health and Finding Reliable COVID-19 Resources

One of the most significant effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (other than illness and death) is the impact on mental health, particularly in response to quarantining and loss of loved ones. Unhealthy coping mechanisms can lead to a variety of problems, including chronic illnesses. This module aims to prevent these negative health outcomes by teaching how to identify mental health struggles and teaching healthy coping mechanisms. In many ways, it teaches a more specific application of the knowledge provided in Module 3: Mental and Emotional Wellness.

This module also reviews information from Module 2: Accessing Valid Health Information and Services, again with a specific focus on COVID-19.

Teaching Resources: