Describe the physical and mental health benefits of participating in a regular exercise program. Identify the chronic physiological responses that occur from a regular exercise program.

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The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. Regular exercise has been proven to reduce risk factors for diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, and stroke (Schmidt, 2016).

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review this week’s required resources, including the Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory, Musculoskeletal, and Neuromotor Fitness in Apparently Healthy Adults ( https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2011/07000/Quantity_and_Quality_of_Exercise_for_Developing.26.aspx) article. Examine the effects of exercise on health by addressing the following items in your assignment:

  • Describe the physical and mental health benefits of participating in a regular exercise program.
  • Identify the chronic physiological responses that occur from a regular exercise program.
  • Describe the importance of the warm up and cool down before and after exercise.
  • Determine the importance of including flexibility in an exercise program.
  • Explain the benefits of resistance training.
  • Analyze the health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.

The Benefits of a Regular Exercise Program assignment

  • Must be three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style.
  • Use APA formatted subheadings to help organize your paper.
  • Must include a separate title page
  • Must utilize academic voice.
  • Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • Must use at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
  • Must document any information used from sources in APA style.
  • Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style.

Describe a concrete example (whether from personal experience, observations, or history) in which activism has been successfully employed to bring about social justice. Why do you think activism was successful in this instance?

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In general, all journal entries for 157SL must be:

  • A minimum of 550 words and a maximum of 750 words. Calculate and list your word count at the top of the page. Do not include the prompt in your word count.
  • Complete. Your journal entry must sufficiently address the prompt and/or the assignment requirements. It should present a sufficiently developed argument using the required resources.
  • Clear. You should present an argument that logically progresses from one point to the next. Your claims should be well supported with good/strong evidence from proper sources.
  • Correct. Your journal entry should be accurate. It should be free of errors, whether in reasoning, grammar, typography, etc.
  • Compelling. To receive a grade of “excellent,” your journal entry should go beyond simply “checking off the boxes” to present arguments, insights, and/or reflections that are thought-provoking and reflective. Ideally you should demonstrate a deep and/or novel understanding of the material.

This week’s prompt on Social Justice, Politics & Activism is:

As noted in an earlier 157SL class session, social justice can be defined as:

  • Fair distribution of wealth, opportunities and privileges within a society;
  • Fair and equal treatment irrespective of wealth, race, class, gender, ethnicity, religion etc. and
  • Ensuring access and opportunity for all, especially those in greatest need,

1. With this definition in mind, describe an example of a LACK or ABSENCE of social justice that you have observed either at your service site, in your community, in your life, or in the news. Explain how this instance constitutes a lack/absence of social justice. What circumstances led to this situation? What practical steps could be taken to restore social justice in this situation?

2. Describe a concrete example (whether from personal experience, observations, or history) in which activism has been successfully employed to bring about social justice. Why do you think activism was successful in this instance?

conduct some Internet research to select a population that you think might be disenfranchised by the Social Security program.

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Discussion 1: Social Security and Social Welfare Programs

For years, many working individuals in the United States have counted on Social Security as their primary retirement income. With the deductions from every paycheck to fund this future benefit, Americans looked forward to a comfortable retirement based on the assumption that these funds were being invested wisely. Is this a factual assumption, or is it another myth of the U.S. social welfare system?

Relying on Social Security as a sole means of support in retirement is uncommon. As society’s work habits and life expectancies change, Social Security has come to mean different things to different people. For those who are unable to save and/or invest on their own, it functions like a forced retirement program that provides a financial safety net for the future. For those who become unable to work, social security often is viewed by others as a public assistance program. For others who are financially secure and prepared for retirement, it is an entitlement program where individuals draw Social Security at retirement in an effort to recoup what they paid into the program by deductions from their wages. How might these perceptions of Social Security relate to the perceptions of public assistance programs that were discussed in last week’s resources?

For this Discussion, review this week’s resources. Then, consider how Social Security is different from public assistance programs. Finally, think about how these differences are important in terms of the general perception of Social Security benefits.

Discussion 2: Disenfranchisement of the Social Security Program

While Social Security provides a safety net of sorts for millions of people, there are still many groups who are not adequately served by this program. For example, there are disparities in the Social Security benefits women receive in comparison to men.

For this Discussion, review this week’s resources. Also, conduct some Internet research to select a population that you think might be disenfranchised by the Social Security program. Consider how the population you selected might be disenfranchised by the Social Security program.

Post a brief description of the population you selected. Then, explain how that population might be disenfranchised by the Social Security program based on research, statistics, or policy analysis.

Explain how and when you would use the tool(s). Explain how you would use the information gathered from the tool in a session.

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What is important to know and when is it important to know it? To intervene in a problem, a social worker must first identify the problem. Screening and initial assessment can be useful to identity individuals who may be experiencing mental health concerns and could benefit from seeing a clinical social worker. This then would lead to a more comprehensive assessment from which a treatment plan is built. However, deciding who to assess, when, and using which tools can feel like a confusing process. For example, should you provide depression screenings in the community to people who are not clients? Should you screen all new clients for substance abuse regardless of presenting problem? Should you ask about suicide in every session or only when it feels like it could be a concern?

For this Discussion, review the following resources and consider the different screening and assessment tools currently available. Identify the tools you think you would be most likely to use in your practice.

American Psychiatric Association. (2018). Online assessment measures. Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/assessment-measures#Disorder

Beidas, R. S., Stewart, R. E., Walsh, L., Lucas, S., Downey, M. M., Jackson, K., … & Mandell, D. S. (2015). Free, brief, and validated: Standardized instruments for low-resource mental health settings. Cognitive and behavioral practice, 22(1), 5-19. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4310476/

SAMSHA. (n.d.) Screening tools. Retrieved from https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/clinical-practice/screening-tools

By Day 3

Post which screening and/or assessment tool(s) you would use in your practice. Explain why you identified the specific instrument(s) given the type of practice and client population with whom you would like to work. Explain how and when you would use the tool(s). Explain how you would use the information gathered from the tool in a session.

Support your posts with specific references to the Learning Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

 

Required Readings

Congress, E. (2013). Assessment of adults. In M. Holosko, C. Dulmus, & K. Sowers (Eds.), Social work practice with individuals and families: Evidence-informed assessments and interventions (pp. 125–145). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Cowger, C. D. (1994). Assessing client strengths: Clinical assessment for client empowerment. Social Work, 39(3), 262–268.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014b). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].

Mental Health Diagnosis in Social Work: The Case of Miranda (pp. 7–9)

Note: Depending on your concentration, you may not receive a case study book until a later term. Therefore, if you did not receive a copy of Social Work Case Studies: Concentration Year in your previous course, use the linked PDF provided here. If you did receive the book referenced above, you may find the cases there or use the PDF.

Hawkins, R. L., & Kim, E. J. (2012). The socio-economic empowerment assessment: Addressing poverty and economic distress in clients. Clinical Social Work Journal, 40(2), 194–202.
Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014a). Sessions: case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
The Cortez Family (pp. 23–25)

Resources for Discussion

American Psychiatric Association. (2018). Online assessment measures. Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/assessment-measures#Disorder

Beidas, R. S., Stewart, R. E., Walsh, L., Lucas, S., Downey, M. M., Jackson, K., … & Mandell, D. S. (2015). Free, brief, and validated: Standardized instruments for low-resource mental health settings. Cognitive and behavioral practice, 22(1), 5-19. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4310476/

SAMSHA. (n.d.) Screening tools. Retrieved from https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/clinical-practice/screening-tools

Optional Resources

Use this link to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.