| Course | HW315 Models for Health and Wellness |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Readiness assessment |
| Length | About 850 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health and Wellness |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HW315 Unit 4
Four Cans Before Lunch: A Unit 4 Readiness Assessment of a Dental Receptionist's Soda Habit
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HW315: Models for Health and Wellness
Unit 4 Readiness Assessment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The receptionist, her habit and her words are composite; the model's sources, the soda review and the interviewing method cited are real.
Case Summary
Tanya, a composite 41-year-old receptionist at a busy family dental practice, drinks four 12-ounce cans of regular cola on most workdays: one when she arrives, one mid-morning, one with lunch and one in the late afternoon when, she says, "the phones get crazy." On weekends she drinks two or three a day. That is roughly 560 calories and about 150 grams of sugar on a workday. A systematic review linked soft drink intake with higher energy intake, higher body weight and lower intake of other nutrients (Vartanian et al., 2007), and the dentists she works for remind her of the effect on her teeth.
She has tried twice to cut back. Two years ago she switched to diet cola for about three weeks and stopped because "it tastes like chemicals." Last spring she tried to quit entirely and lasted four days, with headaches she blamed on missing the caffeine. In the wellness conversation, she said: "I know I should. Maybe after the holidays. January is better for that kind of thing."
Staging
The Transtheoretical Model sorts readiness into stages defined by intention and recent action (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). The criteria used here, adapted from the model's original staging of smoking (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983), are:
1. Precontemplation: no intention to change within six months.
2. Contemplation: intention to change within six months, but not within the next thirty days.
3. Preparation: intention to change within thirty days, with some small step taken in the past year.
4. Action: change made within the past six months.
5. Maintenance: change sustained beyond six months.
Tanya intends to change within six months ("after the holidays," about ten weeks away) but not within thirty days. She has made two attempts, but neither in the past several months produced a sustained reduction, and she is not taking any step now. She meets the criteria for contemplation.
"Maybe after the holidays" places Tanya in contemplation, not precontemplation and not preparation: she has a real intention with a real date, and no plan to act this month.
Decisional Balance
Contemplation is characterized by ambivalence, with the pros and cons of change roughly balanced (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). Tanya's own pros and cons, in her words or close to them:
1. Pro: "My teeth. I work for dentists, it's embarrassing."
2. Pro: "I'd probably lose a few pounds."
3. Pro: "I'd save money; it's like eight dollars a day."
4. Pro: "My daughter's started drinking it because I do."
5. Con: "It's what gets me through the afternoon."
6. Con: "The headaches when I stopped last time were awful."
7. Con: "Everything else tastes boring."
8. Con: "The office keeps a fridge full of it, and everybody drinks it."
Her daughter is the pro she returned to most often, and the afternoon is the con she described with the most feeling. The balance is close, which is consistent with contemplation.
Importance and Confidence
Two 0-to-10 rulers, commonly used in motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2013), give a quick reading of where the ambivalence sits. Asked how important cutting back is to her, Tanya said eight. Asked how confident she is that she could do it, she said three.
The gap is the most useful finding in the assessment. Importance is high, so more information about sugar or teeth is unlikely to help. Confidence is low, and both of her earlier attempts failed in ways that would lower it: one on taste, one on withdrawal headaches. When asked why her confidence was a three and not a zero, she said, "I did go three weeks once." When asked what would move it to a five, she said, "If I didn't have to just stop all at once."
Interpretation
Tanya is in contemplation, with high importance and low confidence, and a balance tilted by her daughter on one side and the afternoon slump on the other. Her answer about gradual change points to the kind of plan she might believe in: a stepwise reduction rather than quitting, which would also lessen withdrawal headaches. The workplace fridge is an environmental factor worth noting for later planning.
What This Assessment Does Not Do
It does not set a plan or push her into action. In contemplation, the usual aim is to help a person resolve ambivalence, and a plan offered too early can harden resistance. The next conversation would explore her confidence further, ask what made the three-week attempt possible and let her choose whether to set a date before the holidays.
Limitations
Staging relies on her self-report at one moment. Criteria developed for smoking were adapted here to soda, which has no standard staging tool. The rulers are quick and useful in conversation but not validated measures of readiness.
References
Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
Prochaska, J. O., & DiClemente, C. C. (1983). Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3), 390-395. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.51.3.390
Prochaska, J. O., & Velicer, W. F. (1997). The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. American Journal of Health Promotion, 12(1), 38-48. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38
Vartanian, L. R., Schwartz, M. B., & Brownell, K. D. (2007). Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 97(4), 667-675. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2005.083782
What the HW315 Unit 4 assignment asks for
The readiness unit asks students to assess where a person stands in the process of change, usually with the Transtheoretical Model. Prompts commonly ask for a case summary, staging against stated criteria, decisional balance and an interpretation, sometimes with importance and confidence ratings. State the criteria you use and cite them, then apply them to the person's exact words. Explain why the person is in one stage rather than the adjacent ones. Record pros and cons in the person's language. If rulers are used, note that they come from motivational interviewing rather than the stage model itself. Interpret what the findings mean for the next step without writing a full plan. Mention any adaptation of criteria to a new behavior. Four pages is a typical length.
Inside the HW315 Unit 4 example
A case summary gives Tanya's four daily cans, the calories and sugar involved, her two earlier attempts and her words about January. Five stage definitions follow as a numbered list, adapted from the smoking criteria, and the highlighted sentence places her in contemplation. Eight pros and cons appear in her words, with her daughter and the afternoon slump identified as the weightiest. A ruler section reports eight for importance and three for confidence and quotes her answers about why the three was not a zero and what would make it a five. An interpretation section points toward gradual reduction. A short section explains why the assessment stops before planning, and limitations close the paper.
Where the points sit in the HW315 Unit 4 rubric
HW315 readiness rubrics generally score accurate staging highest, which means stating criteria, applying them to evidence and justifying the stage against neighboring ones. Decisional balance earns points for completeness and for using the person's own reasons. Interpretation is a separate criterion, judged on whether findings lead logically to a next step suited to the stage. Correct use of supporting tools, such as rulers attributed to motivational interviewing, adds to accuracy. Citation of the model's sources, organization and clear writing complete the points. Assessments that stage a person without stated criteria, or that jump straight to an action plan for someone in contemplation, typically lose points on accuracy and interpretation.
Common HW315 Unit 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Readiness assessments often name a stage in the first paragraph and never show the criteria behind it. Another weakness is writing pros and cons in clinical language the person would never use. Some students treat any mention of a future date as preparation, missing the thirty-day line. Rulers are reported as scores without the follow-up questions that make them useful. Many papers move into a full action plan, which the stage does not support. Adapting smoking criteria to another behavior without saying so is also common. If you have a case and are unsure which stage fits, send the person's statements, and our team can help you apply the criteria line by line.
Get an HW315 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Share the person the Unit 4 instructions describe, or a situation of your own, and any readiness measures the course uses, plus the rubric. The assessment stages the person against the model's published criteria, keeps importance and confidence separate, and questions the staging where it deserves it. Expect it within 24-48h, free on a first request. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HW315 Unit 4 questions, answered
Which stage criteria should the assessment use?
The ones your course text presents, cited to that text and ideally to Prochaska and DiClemente's original work. Most versions use intention within six months for contemplation, and intention within thirty days plus a recent attempt for preparation. Quoting the criteria and showing the person's answers beside them is what makes the stage defensible to a grader.
Can someone be in different stages for different parts of a behavior?
Yes, and noticing it is a mark of careful assessment. A person might be in action on cutting down and in contemplation on quitting entirely, or ready at home but not at work. The assessment should stage the specific behavior the prompt names and note any split, since a plan built on the wrong target tends to fail.
Is a readiness ruler part of the Transtheoretical Model?
Not strictly. Importance and confidence rulers come from motivational interviewing, a counseling approach often paired with the model. Using them is usually welcome if the paper says where they come from and what they add, which in this case is the gap between wanting to change and believing it is possible. If the prompt specifies measures, those take priority.
Where can I find a free HW315 Unit 4 sample paper?
This page presents a complete Unit 4 readiness assessment staging a receptionist's soda habit, with decisional balance, importance and confidence rulers, margin notes and APA references.
What does an importance of eight and confidence of three mean?
She already believes cutting back matters, so more information will add little. Her doubt is about whether she can do it, which points the next conversation toward confidence and toward a gradual approach she said she could believe in.