3.2 Assessing Your Readiness To Change

Where do you start when you want to make a change? Some researchers believe the answer depends on how ready you are to make a change in the first place (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). Individuals may:

• be just starting to think about making a change;
• be ready to make a change very soon;
• already be making efforts to make a change; or
• not even know a problem exists, so change isn’t even on their mind.

The change process can be complex and a one size fits all solution doesn’t exist.

The Stages of Change

The Readiness to Change Questionnaire is based on the stages of the Transtheoretical Model, which offers a lens through which to view change in terms of readiness (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). A certain degree of awareness and growing levels of readiness are needed if someone is going to work toward a change. If someone wants to make a change in a particular area of their life, they first need to notice a problem, have a reason to change, be ready for change, and then create a plan. The five stages are (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997):

• Precontemplation Stage: At this stage, the person has no motivation to change and, in fact, may not realize or acknowledge that a problem exists. For example, Roxanne gets frequent stomach aches and doesn’t realize they are the result of high levels of academic stress.
• Contemplation Stage: The person acknowledges that there is a problem and is thinking about making a change. This would be where Roxanne discovers the connection between her academic stress and her stomach aches and thinks finding some better stress-management strategies might help. She might do some research to further explore this connection.
• Preparation Stage: The individual is planning for change in the immediate future and exploring different possible steps to take. At this point, Roxanne is sorting through her options and planning which strategies she wants to try in order to get organized, plan ahead, and practice self-care.
• Action Stage: The person is implementing the behavior change and is committing time and energy to the change. Here, Roxanne is trying a strategy or two to see what works and what doesn’t. She’s also learning how to overcome any barriers that could make change more difficult.
• Maintenance Stage: The new behavior has been in place six months or more. This is an ongoing process. After trying several new strategies and learning from challenges along the way, Roxanne realizes that Thursday yoga, using a planner, and regularly checking in with her counselor have been the most effective. She continually re-evaluates barriers to stay on track.

Before an individual can make progress through the various stages, they first need to be aware that a problem exists. Sometimes this awakening happens in the form of a visit with their health professional, experiences of health-related symptoms, becoming aware of a health behavior’s negative impacts on relationships or daily activity, or another event or realization. Reflecting on your own stage of change can shed light on what needs to happen next to make progress toward your long-term goals. Though it might seem like the stages happen in order, the change process is not always linear. An individual may go through all five stages, up and down, back and forth many times before a new behavior sticks. That’s OK! Sometimes change is hard, but individuals can learn from every attempt.

Learning Activity: Stages of Change

Match the description with the appropriate stage of change in this interactive drag-and-drop activity.