| Course | HW425 Health and Wellness Programming - Design and Administration |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Program design document |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 7 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 HW425 Unit 4
Sessions at 2:15 When the Shifts Overlap: A Unit 4 Program Design Document for a Grocery Chain's Diabetes Prevention Program
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HW425: Health and Wellness Programming - Design and Administration
Unit 4 Program Design Document
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Tallgrass Market, its stores and staff are composite; the national program's curriculum, recognition standards and research cited are real.
Design Principle
Each component of the program answers two questions: which objective does it serve, and which constraint from the needs assessment does it work around? Components that cannot answer both were left out.
Crosswalk
1. Curriculum: the CDC's PreventT2 lifestyle change curriculum. Serves objectives 2 through 4, attendance, activity and weight. Works around the lack of an in-house curriculum and the need for Spanish materials, since PreventT2 is free in English and Spanish (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024).
2. Session schedule: sixteen weekly sessions in months one to six, then six monthly sessions, twenty-two in all. Serves objectives 2 and 4. Follows the national program's standard structure.
3. Timing: day cohorts at 2:15 p.m., during the overlap of day and evening shifts. Serves objective 2. Works around supervisors' reluctance to release staff, since the overlap is when stores are most fully staffed.
4. Paid time: sessions count as paid work time. Serves objectives 1 and 2. Works around the survey finding that 52 percent preferred "during my shift, paid."
5. Locations: four stores with community rooms host day cohorts. Serves objective 1 by keeping travel under fifteen minutes for staff at the other stores.
6. Overnight cohort: one cohort in Spanish, timed around the overnight shift. Serves objective 1's target of 15 overnight enrollees. Works around language and shift barriers.
7. Coaches: the chain's retail dietitian and two pharmacy technicians, trained as lifestyle coaches. Serves objectives 2 and 5. Works around cost, since no outside provider is needed, and builds a link to the pharmacy for clinical conversations.
8. Clinical connection: coaches give each enrollee a one-page risk summary to bring to a clinician. Serves objective 5.
The Curriculum
PreventT2 is the curriculum the CDC approves for recognized lifestyle change programs. It covers healthy eating, physical activity, problem-solving, managing stress and staying motivated, and sets participants two goals: losing a modest share of body weight and building up weekly activity to the national guideline (CDC, 2024). Using a recognized curriculum lets Tallgrass seek CDC recognition for its program, which requires meeting attendance and outcome standards. The lifestyle approach is based on the original prevention trial, in which intensive lifestyle change reduced diabetes incidence by 58 percent (Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group, 2002).
Cohorts and Schedule
Six cohorts of about fifteen participants each:
1. Cohorts A through D, day staff, at the four community-room stores, Tuesdays or Thursdays at 2:15 p.m.
2. Cohort E, evening staff, Wednesdays at 2:15 p.m. at the largest store.
3. Cohort F, overnight staff, in Spanish, at a time to be set with crew leads. The draft schedules it at 6:30 a.m., after the shift ends.
Each session lasts one hour. Participants clock in under a protected training code so that store managers cannot reassign them during the session.
Scheduling day cohorts at 2:15, when the morning and evening shifts overlap, turns the busiest staffing hour into the one hour a store can most easily release an employee, which answers the supervisors' objection directly.
How a Session Runs
Each session follows the same pattern, which helps participants who miss a week rejoin easily. It opens with a private weigh-in, done by the coach behind a screen and recorded under a code number. A short check-in follows, in which participants share one thing that went well and one challenge from the past week. The coach then introduces the week's topic from PreventT2, such as reading food labels, eating out or getting back on track after a setback. The group works through an activity together, often using examples from the store itself, such as comparing two breakfast cereals from aisle five. Each participant sets one small goal for the coming week, and the session ends on time so that participants can return to work without their manager having to chase them.
Coaches
The retail dietitian will lead two day cohorts and supervise the others. Two pharmacy technicians, one bilingual, will complete CDC-recognized lifestyle coach training and lead the remaining cohorts, including the Spanish-language overnight cohort. Pharmacy technicians were chosen because they already work in every store, know many employees and can help participants prepare questions for the pharmacist or a clinician.
Supporting Environment
Two low-cost changes support the sessions. Each store's break room will add a refrigerated case with fruit, yogurt and salads at cost, addressing the focus group complaint about vending machines. A walking route around each store's parking lot will be marked, for use on breaks.
Evidence on Attendance
Attendance matters to results. In the national program's evaluation, each additional session attended was associated with greater weight loss (Ely et al., 2017). The design's paid time, on-site locations and shift-overlap timing are all aimed at keeping attendance high.
What the Design Does Not Include
The program does not include blood tests, medications or individual nutrition counseling, which belong to clinicians. It does not extend health plan coverage to part-time employees, which is beyond the program's scope, though part-time staff are eligible to enroll.
Why Not Hire an Outside Provider
Several regional organizations offer the national lifestyle program to employers on contract. Using one would remove the burden of training coaches and seeking recognition. It was rejected for three reasons. Outside coaches would not know the stores, the shifts or the employees, and the focus groups made clear that trust runs through familiar people. An outside provider would also be unlikely to offer a Spanish-language cohort timed around the overnight shift. And the in-house approach leaves the chain with trained coaches who can run future cohorts at little added cost.
Risks
The overnight cohort's timing is the least tested decision. The 6:30 a.m. start was chosen because it does not interrupt the shift, but staff may be too tired after eight and a half hours of stocking. This will be reviewed with crew leads before launch. Coaches leaving the pharmacy counter for sessions will require backfill, which the budget must cover.
Conclusion
The design offers a recognized curriculum in a form shaped by Tallgrass Market's shifts, languages and staffing, and it keeps the program inside the stores where employees already spend their days. Each component serves an objective and answers a constraint, and the riskiest choice is identified for review.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program standards and operating procedures. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes-prevention/lifestyle-change-program/
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. (2002). Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. New England Journal of Medicine, 346(6), 393-403. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa012512
Ely, E. K., Gruss, S. M., Luman, E. T., Gregg, E. W., Ali, M. K., Nhim, K., Rolka, D. B., & Albright, A. L. (2017). A national effort to prevent type 2 diabetes: Participant-level evaluation of CDC's National Diabetes Prevention Program. Diabetes Care, 40(10), 1331-1341. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc16-2099
HW425 Unit 4 instructions, in plain terms
The design unit asks students to describe a complete program that would achieve their objectives within the setting's constraints. Prompts commonly expect the curriculum or activities, schedule, locations, staffing and training, supporting changes to the environment, and links to objectives. Build a crosswalk showing which objective each component serves and which constraint it addresses. Use a recognized curriculum where one exists and explain how it will be adapted. Give enough detail on staffing and session structure that someone could run the program. Justify scheduling and location choices with evidence from the needs assessment. Explain alternatives you rejected. Name the riskiest design choice and how it will be reviewed. Seven to eight pages is common.
How the HW 425 Unit 4 example is put together
A design principle opens the document, followed by an eight-line crosswalk from curriculum to clinical connection. Sections describe the curriculum, the six cohorts and their times, and the protected payroll code, and the highlighted sentence explains why 2:15 answers the supervisors' objection. A section walks through a typical session from private weigh-in to a goal for the week. Coaches, two small environmental changes and evidence linking attendance to results follow. A section explains why an outside provider was rejected. What the design excludes, its risks, including the overnight timing and pharmacy backfill, and a conclusion close the document. Each section returns to the crosswalk, so a reader can trace any component back to an objective.
Where the points sit in the HW425 Unit 4 rubric
Program design rubrics in HW425 tend to reward alignment above all: every component should serve an objective and respond to the needs assessment. Feasibility is a second major criterion, judged by whether scheduling, staffing and locations fit the setting. Use of an evidence-based curriculum earns points under evidence. Detail sufficient for implementation, such as session structure and coach training, is scored under completeness. Points also go to discussing rejected alternatives and identifying risks honestly. A crosswalk or logic table, plus correct citations, earns the organization marks. A design that reads as a menu of activities, none tied to an objective, tends to lose alignment points. Graders often check whether the riskiest design choice is named and given a plan for review before launch.
HW425 Unit 4 help from the desk
Program designs often describe an appealing set of activities without showing how each connects to an objective. Another weakness is ignoring constraints the needs assessment found, such as supervisors who will not release staff. Students frequently name a curriculum but give no detail on staffing, training or session structure. Environmental changes are sometimes presented as the main intervention when they are minor supports. Risks are rarely named. If your objectives are set and you need a design that fits a real workplace, describe the shifts, staff and spaces available, and our team can help you build a crosswalk and a schedule around them. Walking through a single session minute by minute is a quick test of whether the design is detailed enough to run.
Get an HW425 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Send your Unit 4 prompt, the rubric and the objectives your program must serve, along with anything known about the setting: shifts, spaces, staff, languages. Each activity in the design is mapped to an objective and a constraint, with who runs it and on whose time. Expect a first sample free, back in 24-48h. 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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HW425 Unit 4 questions, answered
Do I need to use an existing curriculum?
Not always, but naming one usually strengthens a design, because it shows the core content has been tested elsewhere. If your prompt asks for original activities, say what evidence informed them. Either way, state session length, frequency and duration so a reader can judge whether the dose is realistic for the setting.
How much detail should the design include about staffing?
Enough that someone could run it: who delivers each component, their training, how many hours it takes and who covers their usual work. Designs are often graded on administration as much as content, and staffing is where most drafts are thinnest. The budget unit will draw on these details, so keep them consistent.
Should the design include environmental changes?
Where they serve an objective and the setting allows them, yes, but label their role honestly. A water station or a menu option supports behavior change without being able to produce it alone. Small, specific changes the organization can actually make read better than ambitious ones nobody has approved.
Where can I find a free HW425 Unit 4 sample paper?
This page presents a complete Unit 4 program design document for a grocery chain's diabetes prevention program, with a crosswalk, session structure, margin notes and APA references.
Why schedule sessions at 2:15?
At 2:15 the morning and evening shifts overlap, so stores are most fully staffed. That is the easiest hour for a manager to release an employee, which answers the supervisors' main objection.