'What Are They Thinking When They Do Something Like That?': Using the ABC System of Emotional and Behavioral Self-Management to Teach Health Education

Abstract:
Many people behave in unhealthy ways despite receiving the necessary information and despite past or impending negative consequences. At McHenry High School in Illinois, the theories and practices of rational emotive behavioral therapy and education, based on the ABC theory of emotions by Dr. Albert Ellis, have been adapted for use in the classroom to address this problem. The primary focus of the class is to teach students a way to better self-manage their thoughts--and thereby their emotions and behavior--in situations that are typically troublesome for teens (e.g., pressure to become sexually active or to use alcohol). The process involves identifying problematic thoughts (e.g., "I 'd just die if he went out with someone else") and writing and verbalizing responses ("Why would you die just because someone broke up with you? I wouldn't die just because he broke up with me."). The teaching technique is rooted in psychological theory and uses role plays to attempt to make lessons in the health classroom relevant to teenagers' world outside the classroom. However, the article does not mention any type of evaluation, formal or informal, that has been undertaken or is planned, and the reader might wonder whether the system does, in fact, lead to behavior change among high school students.

Author(s): MATHIS, Ray

Publication: Journal of Health Education


Date Published: 5/1/1997

Pages: 5

Location Code: 2100