Developing, implementing, and evaluating a wellness education program.

A Wellness Behavior Inventory and a wellness education program were developed and implemented to determine the effectiveness of the program in changing 10th grade students' attitudes and behaviors concerning wellness. Experimental (N = 24) and control (N = 24) groups completed the Attitudinal Inventory of Wellness and the Wellness Behavior Inventory developed by the researchers as a pretest, four week later as a posttest, and an additional four weeks later as a post-posttest. The experimental group participated in the four-week, 800-minute educational program between the pretest and posttest, while the control group received no intervening treatment. Groups were matched by age, IQ, and sex. The research concluded that the education program was effective in enhancing positive attitudes and behaviors toward wellness among selected 10th grade students. A follow-up study was conducted and an additional questionnaire was used to identify encouragers and/or discouragers for participants who continued to practice or not practice wellness behavior.