諾魯月報第三十三版-營養專欄 The Stages of Change Model－My Way, My Life

December 2012
諾魯月報-第三十三版封面

The Nutrition Corner

The Stages of Change Model

Recently, I do an assistant job at NAOERO Public Health Centre, and there is a competition called Ijababa ken wam kg’s Weight Loss Challenge. All the participants return every two weeks to recheck their weights, and a new target weight was then issued for the following fortnight. The target for every two weeks is 2% loss of their body weight. It’s quite reasonable and approachable. Nowadays, the Stage of Change Model has been widely applied to behaviors, including quitting smoking, overcoming alcohol, losing weight, and drug problem.

The Stages of Change Model was originally developed in the late 1970's and early 1980's by James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente at the University of Rhode Island when they were studying how smokers were able to give up their habits or addiction. Here are the five stages below:

Precontemplation - a person is not even thinking about making a change
Contemplation - a person has started considering that making a change might be a good idea and is perhaps starting to make plans about how to implement those changes
Preparation - a person has made a commitment to make a change
Action - a person believes he/she has the ability to change his/her behavior and are actively engaged in taking steps to change their bad behavior by using a variety of different techniques
Maintenance - a person sustains the change in the behavior over time through continued effort

As a proverb goes, “Rome was not built in one day”. The concept behind the model is that behavior changes do not happen in one step. Instead, people tend to progress through different stages on their way to successful change.

There are plenty people attending this challenge, and all the participants were aware of the effects of overweight and obesity prior to joining this program. Some who have got involved in contemplation stage have started thinking about making some differences and are willing to come to check their weight, but they still find it hard to carry out such changes. Some who have got themselves involved in preparation stage have started to make small changes towards their weight goals; however weight results were not too obvious. The others who have got involved in the action stage are aggressive and intended to lose their weight by doing exercises and going on a diet control. Furthermore, if those whom are in the action stage continue for about 6 months to a year, they could progress further into maintenance stage. Maintenance means you are able to successfully avoid any temptations to return to your previous unhealthy habits. However, people sometimes will suffer relapses or fail to maintain the new changes of behavior for several times, and also accompany feelings of discouragement and failure. It’s quite normal that people run into these situations. Never give up so early! Try to figure out what the problem is, and then find practical solutions for it. It will make your mind stronger when you face next relapse. Gladly speaking, until now the overall outcome of this challenge is positive to those who truly want to lose weight. I am here to encourage people to start making some changes to have your lives better. Never too late to make up your mind!