Books / Clinical practice & common factors
Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward
Changing for Good (1994) introduces the transtheoretical model of behaviour change for a general audience. James O. Prochaska, John C. Norcross and Carlo C. DiClemente describe stages and processes that they propose can help explain attempts to change habits.
Book details
Author of listed edition: James O. Prochaska, John C. Norcross and Carlo C. DiClemente
Edition: First published in 1994; 1995 Avon Books paperback (ISBN 9780380725724).
Publisher: William Morrow and Company
Edition year: 1994
Language and origin: English (United States)
Form and genre: Clinical & Theoretical Monograph
Level: Introductory
Historical era: 1980–2009 · Evidence-Based, Trauma & Integrative Era
Covers: The authors’ stages of change, including precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination; Processes the authors associate with change; The authors’ account of recurrence and renewed attempts; Decisional balance and self-efficacy
APA 7th reference: Prochaska, J. O., Norcross, J. C., & DiClemente, C. C. (1994). Changing for good: A revolutionary six-stage program for overcoming bad habits and moving your life positively forward. William Morrow and Company.
What it is
First published in 1994, this general-audience book presents a model developed by Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente to describe how people attempt to change behaviours. The authors discuss change with and without formal therapy.
What it covers
The authors describe stages of change and processes they associate with those stages. They also discuss the possibility that people return to earlier stages after a setback. These stages are a proposed framework; people’s experiences do not have to follow a fixed sequence.
Evidence and limits
The model suggests adapting support to a person’s readiness for change. A 2010 Cochrane review of smoking cessation trials found the additional benefit of stage-tailoring uncertain; it did not support restricting quitting advice and encouragement to particular stages. This finding is specific to the studies and behaviour reviewed.
Reader level and educational scope
This entry describes a book and research for educational purposes. It does not diagnose or recommend treatment. The model’s usefulness and the evidence for specific interventions may differ across behaviours and settings.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: In Search of How People Change: Applications to Addictive Behaviors (James O. Prochaska, Carlo C. DiClemente, and John C. Norcross, 1992)
Reference: Prochaska, J. O., DiClemente, C. C., & Norcross, J. C. (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behaviors. American Psychologist, 47(9), 1102–1114.
A 1992 article by the authors discussing the transtheoretical model and applications to addictive behaviours.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: The authors describe stages and processes of change and propose that support can be adapted to a person’s stage. (The stages are a framework for understanding change, not a proven sequence that every person follows.) [Source 2: Prochaska, J. O., DiClemente, C. C., & Norcross, J. C. (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behaviors. American Psychologist, 47(9), 1102–1114.]
Claim 2: A 2010 Cochrane review found uncertain additional benefit from tailoring smoking cessation support to a smoker’s stage of change. (This conclusion concerns the smoking cessation trials reviewed and does not settle every application of the model.) [Source 3: Cahill, K., Lancaster, T., & Green, N. (2010). Stage-based interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (11), CD004492.]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Pending verification: Publisher information for the book; the full text has not been independently checked.
Supports: Pending verification: Authors’ 1992 account of the transtheoretical model and its applications to addictive behaviours.
Supports: Review of smoking cessation trials; the added value of adapting interventions to stage of change was uncertain.
Minuteman Library Network. Changing for good: 1995 Avon Books trade paperback.
Supports: Catalogue record identifies the 1995 Avon paperback and its ISBN, and notes original publication in 1994.