Abstract
With a primary prevention focus, it would be important to help populations engage in stress management. The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change is one of potentially useful models to formulate interventions. The model describes behavior change as progression through five stages: precontemplation (not ready), contemplation (getting ready), preparation (ready), action, and maintenance. Processes of change (strategies and techniques to enhance the progression) facilitate stage transition. Their use is hypothesized to depend on stage of change. The processes tend to be used the least at the precontemplation stage. Use of experiential processes (affective and/or cognitive strategies such as seeking information) increase over time and tend to peak at the contemplation or preparation stage and then decease. In contrast, behavioral processes (behavioral strategies such as seeking social support) tend to be used most at the action and/or maintenance stage. This study examined relationships between stages and processes of change for effective stress management. Effective stress management is defined as any form of healthy activity such as exercising, meditating, relaxing, and seeking social support, which is practiced for at least 20 minutes. Four hundred and five Japanese college students participated in this study. A paper-pencil survey was conducted at colleges in Japan. The process use was least in precontemplation. Experiential processes peaked in preparation. Except for one experiential process, no significant difference was found between preparation and maintenance. Behavioral processes peaked in preparation, action, or maintenance. Most of these inter-stage differences of processes are in line with the prediction from the model. This study represented an initial but important test of validity of applying processes of change to stress management. The results partially supported its application.
Highlights
Psychological stress inversely affects both health (Kopp, Skrabski, Székely, Stauder, & Williams, 2007) and productivity (Watts & Robertson, 2011)
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between stage and processes of change for stress management with Japanese college students
The score of helping relationships was significantly higher in the maintenance stage than were those in the precontemplation stage. This is among the first studies which examines the interstage differences of all ten processes with a reasonable sample size
Summary
Psychological stress inversely affects both health (Kopp, Skrabski, Székely, Stauder, & Williams, 2007) and productivity (Watts & Robertson, 2011). With a primary prevention focus, it would be important to help populations engage in healthy stress management activities such as exercise, talking with others, or regular relaxation to manage stress (Evers, Prochaska, Johnson, Mauriello, Padula, & Prochaska, 2006; Prochaska et al, 2008) For designing such interventions, it is first necessary to find theories of behavior change to understand people’s readiness to initiate and maintain stress management. According to the TTM, behavior change is described as progression through five stages: precontemplation (not ready), contemplation (getting ready), preparation (ready), action, and maintenance. Additional constructs such as processes of change, decisional balance, and self-efficacy are found to facilitate stage transitions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
