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STAGES OF CHANGE DIAGRAM
QUIZ 5: The Stages of Change
A key question of behaviour change practitioners is how to gauge people’s readiness for change. Answering this question requires understanding the process of change that people go through to adopt and sustain a behaviour change. The ‘trans-theoretical’ model (TTM) of behaviour change, also called as ‘stages of change’ model developed by Prochaska and colleagues [27], seeks to help us understand this, suggesting that behaviour change isn’t just a single movement from one way of behaving to another, but rather occurs by moving through sequential stages including the following stages which are further defined below: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance [27, 29]. The model also recognises the possibility of relapse, and that a person may move back to a former stage at any point.
![Figure 25: Stages of Change [30]](https://communitiesforanimals.thebrooke.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A18-Change-Complete.png)
Figure 25: Stages of Change [30]
Definitions of each stage of change with animal welfare related examples are provided below:
PRE-CONTEMPLATION
People in pre-contemplation are unaware of the issue and therefore are not considering change. They may be unaware or do not believe there is a problem, or may be aware, but ambivalent, unwilling, or unmotivated to engage in change for whatever reason (e.g. resistant, defensive, low self-confidence) [30].
Example: donkey owners who are unaware of the negative issues related to whipping or resist as they do not see the benefits of changing, or they are defensive as they feel wrongly criticised for the behaviour, or they do not think they can change [19].
CONTEMPLATION
People in contemplation is aware of the issue, is thinking about behaviour change, but is not committed to acting. These people might be receptive to feedback and information compared with the previous stage but might be ambivalent about change in relation to how it will benefit them or not; as a result, people might get stuck at this stage for some time.
Example: a person may feel bad about whipping their donkey, and has seen a peer using alternatives to whipping, so is considering their options, but may have mixed feelings about the benefits versus the costs of whipping or not whipping [19].
PREPARATION
People in preparation are motivated and intend to act and have taken steps to prepare to change their behaviour.
Example: donkey owners talked to a friend who does not whip about how they communicate with their donkey or have made unsuccessful attempts to communicate with their donkey in a different way [19].
ACTION
In the action stage, people have moved from an intention to change their behaviour to undertaking effort to enact the new behaviour, experiencing its benefits as well as costs, such as time, effort, money, opinions of others [20].
Example: A donkey cart owner has stopped whipping and is performing a new or existing communication behaviour with the donkey instead [19].
MAINTENANCE
People in maintenance have managed to sustain the behaviour change and are working to avoid relapsing. It typically takes some effort before people continue acting without external prompts or are capable of self-regulating the triggers that may lead to relapse [20].
Example: donkey care owners are now using the voice, or another means to communicate with the donkey instead, and have stopped carrying the whip to ensure they do not relapse to whipping behaviour [19].
RELAPSE / RECURRENCE
Relapse is when a person reverts to the old problem behaviour. Relapse is possible from any stage to any stage at any time, and may be triggered by something (e.g. psychological, or environmental factor etc.).
Example: a donkey cart owner who is at the action stage may revert to the contemplation or pre-contemplation stage relapse when they experience emotional stress such as a customer pressuring them to transport goods quickly or they won’t do business with them, which might trigger the individual to relapse to whipping behaviour [19].
The stages of change outlined by the TTM help identify an individual’s readiness for changing their current behaviour by categorizing target groups depending on their state of preparedness for change. “The early stages change relate to an intention to change (i.e. pre-contemplation, contemplation and preparation) whereas the later stages focus on the actual behaviour change (i.e. action, maintenance) [27]. “The strengths of the TTM is that it provides a framework that can be used to proactively move an individual through the stages towards sustained behaviour change, rather than assuming behaviour change is one single moment or event. It provides processes to understand and assist the individual at each stage of change to tailor the intervention” [19]. By helping users understand what stage of behaviour change people are in, and how best to support their contributed change process through it, the TTM enables behaviour change practitioners to tailor their engagement for greatest effectiveness.
Further guidance on how to identify what stage of behaviour change someone is in, and how to support community members’ progress through them is provided in the following C4A facilitator resources: Guidance on Listening for Change Talk, Guidance on Effective Techniques for Supporting Progress through Stages of Change, Negotiated Behaviour Change: Guidance on Overcoming Resistance to Change, and Guidance on Facilitating Conversations for Change. The participatory learning and action (PLA) tools provided in this guide can also be used to facilitate learning and reflection which can support progress through the stages of change, as well as enable facilitators to gauge where people are in their stages of change.