Inquiry Unit (u12449.xml)

Create Your Personal SisterNet Health Plan

Maryam Ar-Raheem (mar_harambee@yahoo.com) (ready to use)

Coauthors

Ann Bishop (abishop@uiuc.edu)
Wamaitha Sullivan (wamaithasullivan@hotmail.com)
Imani Bazzell (ibazzell@parkland.edu)
Margaret Laraviere (mabrooks@uiuc.edu)

ASK Partner Projects

Afya SisterNet

Subject Areas

Education, Health

Grade Levels

Informal

Unit Keywords

SisterNet, Black women's health, Afya Project, Soul Strut and Get with the Program

Open Directory Category

http://dmoz.org/Health/Women%27s_Health/

Rationale of the Unit

What is your vision of a healthy Black woman?

Our primary goal in the Spring 2003 SisterNet health and technology workshop--led by Maryam Ar-Raheem--is to create a health plan for our own continuous use.

Another aim is to learn a little bit about resources on the web that can help us achieve our personal health goals.

You can create your personal health plan online at Maryam's workshop or by accessing it yourself later in our Community Inquiry Lab at SisterNet's website: http://sisternetonline.org. You can also simply complete your health plan by filling in the boxes on this handout!


	INVESTIGATE	Go to Top

Background and Resources

WEB SITES -- Sites for Exploration and Interaction.

http://sisternetonline.org
SisterNetOnline: SisterNet women have identified some good websites for nurturing a healthy lifestyle (http://sisternetonline.org/hwebsites.html ). At SisterNet's website, you can also learn more about how to evaluate a health or technology website yourself (http://sisternetonline.org/eval.html ).

http://www.helpsource.org/
East Centrall Illinois' most comprehensive guide to health and human services.

http://www.prairienet.org/selfhelp/homepage.phtml
A comprehensive listing of self-help groups for Champaign and
selected surrounding counties.

http://www.blackwomenshealth.com/
Blackwomenshealth.com: This website is dedicated to the health and wellness of today's African American women.

http://www.oprah.com
Oprah.com: Oprah.com provides you with information and resources to live your best life.

http://www.blackliving.com/
The Black Women's Network: The vision of the Black Women's Network is to help each other achieve the best of their capabilities.

http://www.princeton.edu/~womenstu/womenofcolor.htm
Women of Color Resources: Find links to important information resources for women of color.

http://www.navigator.tufts.edu/
Tufts Nutrition Navigator: Designed to help you sort through the large volume of nutrition information on the Internet and find accurate, useful nutrition information you can trust.

http://www.minority.unc.edu/
Minority Health Project to Elimate Health Disparities: An informative site with extensive information about minority health and health activism.

LOCAL PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Yoga

Mwansa Mandela
Contact:
217/355-9663
mmandela@parkland.cc.il.us

BOOKS, MAGAZINES, COMPUTER ACCESS

Villarosa, Linda, ed. Body & Soul : The Black Women's Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Being , New York : HarperCollins, 1994.

For additional books and magazines, check out all the great resources at the Douglass Branch of the Champaign Public Library [http://www.champaign.org/ ] and the Urbana Free Library [http://urbanafreelibrary.org// ]. The Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Illinois is free and open to the public; they have a wealth of material related to Black women's health: [http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/lhsu/ ]


	CREATE	Go to Top

Activities and Open-ended problems

Are you ready to create your own personal health plan?

Here we go...

What are three things you'd like to accomplish or do regularly in the next three months to nurture your health?


	DISCUSS	Go to Top

Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations

It's important to be aware of obstacles that stand in our way. Identifying barriers is the first step in overcoming them!

A number of barriers can get in the way of achieving our health goals.

These include:

__ Sexism

__ Racism

__ Lack of confidence

__ Negative image of our own bodies

__ Stress related to our family lives

__ Stress related to our work lives

__ Lack of resources

__ No partner to do plan with

__ Lack of time

Put an "x" in front of the ones you think affect you personally.

Are there any others that affect you?

How might you address these barriers?


	REFLECT	Go to Top

Assessment, Related Questions, and Story of the Unit

Take some time to reflect on your health and on what you've accomplished in this SisterNet workshop.

Has this workshop assisted you in being more committed to your health?

Do you think the web will help you develop or improve your health?

Credits & Acknowledgements

Thanks to Gerri, Swalena, Elisabeth, Julia, and Frances for their help preparing earlier versions of this health plan activity.

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