Transtheoretical model
Also known as: Stages of change
Behavior change unfolds through stages, from not-yet-ready to maintaining the new behavior.
What it means
The Transtheoretical Model, also known as the Stages of Change, describes behavior change as movement through a sequence of stages — precontemplation (not yet considering change), contemplation (weighing it), preparation (intending to act soon), action (actively changing), and maintenance (sustaining the change) — with relapse a normal possibility rather than a failure. Its central claim is that interventions should be matched to the person's current stage, because the support that helps a contemplator (raising awareness and resolving ambivalence) differs from what helps someone in action (skills, reinforcement, and relapse prevention). The model also specifies processes of change that move people between stages and constructs such as decisional balance (the perceived pros and cons of changing) and self-efficacy. It has been widely applied to smoking cessation, addiction, exercise, and diet, and it underpins much of motivational interviewing. The model has been critiqued for the somewhat arbitrary boundaries between stages and for mixed evidence that stage-matched interventions outperform non-staged ones. It matters because it reframes change as a process rather than a single decision, directing effort toward meeting people where they are instead of pushing action on those not yet ready for it.
Examples
A smoker merely 'contemplating' quitting needs different help — resolving ambivalence — than one already in the 'action' stage, who needs coping skills and relapse prevention.
A gym pushes the same twelve-week training plan at every new member. The one who was merely toying with the idea quits in a fortnight; the one already committed thrives on it.
A debt adviser hands a budgeting spreadsheet to someone still insisting their spending is fine, and it goes in the bin. The same spreadsheet transforms a client already trying to cut back.
First described in Prochaska & DiClemente (1983).