How Can Stages of Change be Best Used in Dietary Interventions?

Abstract

The stages of change construct can be helpful in designing, delivering, and evaluating interventions to help people adopt more healthful diets. This article reviews some of the key findings from research on stages of dietary change, and in doing so, addresses the following controversies regarding use and interpretation of the construct. First, stages of dietary change should not be confused with measures of dietary behavior or nutrient intake. Rather, stage of dietary change measures what people think about their diets and their interest in change. Second, healthful dietary changes, such as eating more fruits and vegetables or eating less fat, are different from quitting smoking or other addictive drugs. Thus, interpretation of stages of dietary change requires modification to be optimally useful for intervention design and evaluation. Third, few studies have tested the applicability of other components of the Transtheoretical Model (or Stages of Change Model), such as decisional balance and processes of change, in dietary change interventions. Further work is needed to assess whether and how these components of the model apply to the adoption of healthful diets.