NU 629 Week 8 Journal Self-Reflection, Spending, Saving, and Life Habits – One Paycheck? Two, Three . . . Ten?

NU 629 Week 8 Journal Self-Reflection, Spending, Saving, and Life Habits – One Paycheck? Two, Three . . . Ten?

NU 629 Health Promotion – Disease Prevention

Read and Reflect

Millions of Americans are one paycheck away from the street

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck

One Paycheck Away

No matter how much you earn, “getting by” is still a struggle for most people these days. Seventy-eight percent of full-time workers indicated that they live paycheck to paycheck, which is up from 75 percent for the previous year, according to a report from CareerBuilder (August 24, 2017). Most of us make New Year’s resolutions, and budgeting or staying on budget is frequently in the top three. According to Statistia.com, after reviewing more than 22,500 sources, the top three New Year’s resolutions for 2018 tied at 37 percent each – eat healthier, get more exercise, and save more money. At the same time, 32 percent of those polled did not intend to make a New Year’s Resolution.

When thinking about the mindset of Americans, their New Year’s resolutions, and the state of our health, as Advanced Practice Nurses, we need to understand that we are dealing with more than the “health” or “disease” of our patients, but also cultural mores and financial constraints. The studies may recommend a certain course of treatment, but when most of us are “one paycheck away” from disaster, the study recommendations do not take into account who’s going to keep the lights on or food on the table.

Reflect on the learning material for this week, other people you may know, and your own personal situation in relation to money. Consider how an individual’s financial well-being directly affects their overall health and their ability to receive preventative services and evidence-based care.

You may journal in first-person and this assignment does not require references as it is your thoughts; however, be sure to review the rubric as a minimum of one reference is required to be considered exemplary work. If you choose to use quotes or citable material, you are expected to follow APA formatting.

Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.

Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.

One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.

I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.

In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.

Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).

Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).

Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.

I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.

As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.

It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

Lopes Write Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.