top of page
Writer's pictureFatıma Tuana Tan

CREATING A WELLNESS PROGRAM AT HOME

Almost every person gets tired and needs a wellness program for themselves. The program may cover a day, a week or a month; it doesn’t actually matter. The thing that matters is almost everyone needs a wellness program. Especially during Covid-19, due to restrictions people had to stay at their homes. It was a rough and challenging period. During that time, using a wellness program was very beneficial in order to protect both mental and physical health. Applying it to life may be challenging as well as being productive and efficient. These challenges may be prevented or be solved easily with planning tools, strategies, theories and control measurements.

The most important task is to make a plan for the program. Since every member will comply with this plan, it must be appropriate for everyone. That’s why, I will use the planning strategy of participatory planning. In this planning style, every member of the group attends to the planning process. It reduces the conflicts that may occur in the future. Also, another factor that can make the planning process less controversial than usual is corporate culture. Generally families living together have a corporate culture. Eliminating the different cultures will improve communication. Communication is also very significant in planning, making decisions and doing the work. For example, low-context cultures such as Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and most of European countries, require little or no explanation of orders and requests, preferring to make decisions quickly. High-context cultures, which include most other Eastern and South American populations, require and expect much more explanation about orders and directions. This situation makes communication more challenging. Thus, corporate culture makes the planning process and communication better and helps the participatory planning strategy work without a conflict caused by culture.

Problems may occur in every step of a program; it is natural. However, we can minimize the damages due to conflicts, problems and changes of circumstances. Best way to adapt to changes is to make a strong plan which gives you flexibility with little back up plans. In order to lessen the effects of conflicts and problems, conflict management styles may be used. For example, my brother and I are very different from each other. This causes divergences between us. In these times, we apply the conflict management style of collaboration. It is a very good style because it tries to satisfy everyone. If we cannot solve the problem, our parents become the mediators. I think of applying this style to our wellness program. Evaluating the program with SWOT analysis may also help us to realize strong and weak ways of the plan, things that need improvement and possible challenges. The weak ways in our SWOT problem may cause challenges or barriers to us. For example, I believe the biggest challenge and the weakness of us in applying a wellness program will be time management. I live with my parents and two brothers, and all of them have their own study and work times. That’s why making a wellness program for each individual separately would be more efficient for my family. For sure, there will be times that will be spent together. Even though it is a problem, it can be solved with appropriate time management. Also, with that I can distribute the activities much better and easier. Moreover, internal and external factors are essential for a program to be applied without any trouble. Separation of duties is important here. At home, there will always be chores that need to be handled. Separation of these chores makes every person work equally and fairly and increases work efficiency. Therefore, internal control measures, conflict management styles and analysis of the program may eliminate a lot of conflicts and problems.

Motivation is very important for finishing or even making a wellness program. Every person needs to be motivated while doing work. For example, a person who studies for exams, needs an external motivator or needs to motivate him/herself. I prefer to use Maslow's hierarchy of Needs theory because it includes physiological needs (food and clothing), safety needs (job security), social needs (friendship), self-esteem, and self-actualization. It will help me to better understand my family's needs and motivation and address them in ways that lead to high productivity and mental and physical health. If these needs are redressed, my family and I will have more satisfaction for the program.

Wellness programs are very important for every person to feel better. There are some key points while making and applying one. In making a wellness program, planning has a major role. Using participatory planning may lessen the conflicts that may occur. Having a corporate culture within the family improves communication and reduces the problems that may occur due to lack of communication. Despite these precautions, problems may arise. When they do, using conflict management style of collaboration may be beneficial. Also, using SWOT analysis may help to find the strengths, weaknesses, the parts that need improvements and possible threats. Weakness of our wellness program is not being able to arrange the time properly which can be solved with a strong time management. The motivation for the program may be provided with the application of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Therefore, it is obvious that wellness comes with so many benefits as well as some challenges and barriers that may be got under control with some strategies, control measures and conflict management styles.

References




4 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page