One of the ways that we plan to engage students is to use discussion boards in the courses. This might be for fun or for points. Unfortunately most students do not response until they actually get credit (points) for doing the activity! We have done this for some time in one of the nursing electives, Nursing Gerontology. Below you can see one of the discussion questions and the student’s response. Following that are some of the discussion boards that will go into the new online curriculum

What do you think the future holds for you or someone in your family? Think about how you can improve the odds of having a health and happy aging process. Are there changes that can be made to improve health, lessen risk factors, give you (or your family) financial security? Can we slow the aging process? Share your thoughts. [ 12 Messages ][ 11 ]

AGING IN AMERICA:

Future of my father My father is 50 years old and has been a smoker for over 30 years. My father is also not in good physical shape because he is overweight for both his body frame and age. My father also never seeks medical attention when he is ill. He refuses to see a doctor stating that they never know what they're talking about. I'm worried for my father because at his age and with his history he is at risk for the development of several diseases. Both me and my family have talked with him and have tried to help him quit smoking. He refuses. I have told my father all the risks associated with smoking and he does seem to understand, however shows no sign in attempting to quit. I feel that if my father would listen to me he would decrease his chance in developing many of the diseases associated with smoking. I feel that his future will be one of many complications associated with both smoking and obesity. I feel this way because I watched my grandmother die of emphysema at the age of 65, and currently have another member of the family with terminal lung cancer who has also smoked for many years. With these things happening around my family, you would think my father would wise up, however that is not the case and I feel that it will never change. If I could just get through to him I would be able to increase his chance of survival. There are several medications available to those who wish to quit smoking, and these medications have been proven to work. I feel that if as nurses we promote no smoking to the younger age clients and promote the ability to quit, we will see a decline in the number of deaths associated with smoking. Its just too bad that when my father was younger, people were not as educated as we are today and no smoking was not implemented as much as we see today.

Current Thread Detail:
Future of my father	Student 1	Sun Jul 20 2003	12:53 pm
Re: Future of my father	Student2	Sun Jul 20 2003	1:14 pm

: Re: Future of my father You know I agree with you. I am an ex-smoker who works in surgery. I have seen with my own eyes the drama that smoking can cause. However it didn't encourage me to quit. Sometimes we deal with things through our dependencies. The older we get the more things are familiar, the more at ease we are. I think smoking is like drinking or over eating, we know that they are bad for us but we can't break the cycle. Nagging you dad won't help him. Find things to do together where he can't smoke. like movies or spending time with the little ones. When he is ready to quit he will. One thing to consider here is the mention of medications to help stop smoking. These can be costly and while most say so is smoking in the long run, smoking cost three dollars a day, these meds cost a lot more at one time. Also, most insurance will not pay for them, which is sad considering all the stuff they have to pay for caused by the smoking. Now I have seen Medicare is offering a stop smoking program and the meds are covered, however at that age most have smoked so long I think the damage is mostly done by then. Also with the older adult, they sometimes feel the damage is already done. My father is 51 a diabetic with heart problems. The doctor told him to stop smoking and put him on the patch. Well, needless to say I caught him smoking and wearing the patch to boot! I am a 26 year old smoker and would love to quit. My problem is that my husband also smokes as well as most people (family) that I am around. I tried the pill and was bouncing off the walls with maybe 3 hours of sleep a night. I do take in consideration of my kids and keep it outside. Something to take into consideration is whether someone who wants to quit can also not be around it. Once out of nursing school I will quit. But I feel this is one area that targeting the younger smokers would help a lot. No matter the cost most will pay to smoke.

These are some of the discussion boards that will integrate with the OB Course. In each unit there is an assignment that requires them to post to the discussion boards listed below.

Ethical Issues r.t. Pregnancy	[ No Messages ]
After you have written your position paper on an ethic issue that concerns you, post something on the discussion board. You need one posting and one response to other students to get the total 10 points for this assignment.

"Mental Health Resources"	[ No Messages ]
Post the URL and tell your classmates about a site that will promote positive mental health. You also might want to mention sites to avoid.

Internet Project: Postpartum Resources	[ No Messages ]
Post the web site and analysis of that site here

Adolescent Pregnancy	[ No Messages ]
Find some facts and discuss your point of view here.