Helping patients change behavior is an important role for family physicians. Change interventions are especially useful in addressing lifestyle modification for disease prevention, long-term disease management and addictions. The concepts of “patient noncompliance” and motivation often focus on patient failure. Understanding patient readiness to make change, appreciating barriers to change and helping patients anticipate relapse can improve patient satisfaction and lower physician frustration during the change process. In this article, we review the Transtheoretical Model of Change, also known as the Stages of Change model, and discuss its application to the family practice setting. The Readiness to Change Ruler and the Agenda-Setting Chart are two simple tools that can be used in the office to promote discussion.

One role of family physicians is to assist patients in understanding their health and to help them make the changes necessary for health improvement. Exercise programs, stress management techniques and dietary restrictions represent some common interventions that require patient motivation. A change in patient lifestyle is necessary for successful management of long-term illness, and relapse can often be attributed to lapses in healthy behavior by the patient. Patients easily understand lifestyle modifications (i.e., “I need to reduce the fat in my diet in order to control my weight.”) but consistent, life-long behavior changes are difficult.

Much has been written about success and failure rates in helping patients change, about barriers to change and about the role of physicians in improving patient outcomes. Recommendations for physicians helping patients to change have ranged from the “just do it” approach to suggesting extended office visits, often incorporating behavior modification, record-keeping suggestions and follow-up telephone calls.1–3 Repeatedly educating the patient is not always successful and can become frustrating for the physician and patient. Furthermore, promising patients an improved outcome does not guarantee their motivation for long-term change. Patients may view physicians who use a confrontational approach as being critical rather than supportive. Relapse during any treatment program is sometimes viewed as a failure by the patient and the physician. A feeling of failure, especially when repeated, may cause patients to give up and avoid contact with their physician or avoid treatment altogether. After physicians invest time and energy in promoting change, patients who fail are often labeled “noncompliant” or “unmotivated.” Labeling a patient in this way places responsibility for failure on the patient's character and ignores the complexity of the behavior change process.

Understanding Change Jump to section + Abstract

Lessons Learned from Smoking and Alcohol Cessation

Understanding Change

Interventions

Helping the ‘Stuck’ Patient

Relapse from Changed Behavior

Additional Tools

Involving Others

Final Comment

References Physicians should remember that behavior change is rarely a discrete, single event. Physicians sometimes see patients who, after experiencing a medical crisis and being advised to change the contributing behavior, readily comply. More often, physicians encounter patients who seem unable or unwilling to change. During the past decade, behavior change has come to be understood as a process of identifiable stages through which patients pass. Physicians can enhance those stages by taking specific action. Understanding this process provides physicians with additional tools to assist patients, who are often as discouraged as their physicians with their lack of change. The Stages of Change model4 shows that, for most persons, a change in behavior occurs gradually, with the patient moving from being uninterested, unaware or unwilling to make a change (precontemplation), to considering a change (contemplation), to deciding and preparing to make a change. Genuine, determined action is then taken and, over time, attempts to maintain the new behavior occur. Relapses are almost inevitable and become part of the process of working toward lifelong change. PRECONTEMPLATION STAGE During the precontemplation stage, patients do not even consider changing. Smokers who are “in denial” may not see that the advice applies to them personally. Patients with high cholesterol levels may feel “immune” to the health problems that strike others. Obese patients may have tried unsuccessfully so many times to lose weight that they have simply given up. CONTEMPLATION STAGE During the contemplation stage, patients are ambivalent about changing. Giving up an enjoyed behavior causes them to feel a sense of loss despite the perceived gain. During this stage, patients assess barriers (e.g., time, expense, hassle, fear, “I know I need to, doc, but …”) as well as the benefits of change. PREPARATION STAGE During the preparation stage, patients prepare to make a specific change. They may experiment with small changes as their determination to change increases. For example, sampling low-fat foods may be an experimentation with or a move toward greater dietary modification. Switching to a different brand of cigarettes or decreasing their drinking signals that they have decided a change is needed. ACTION STAGE The action stage is the one that most physicians are eager to see their patients reach. Many failed New Year's resolutions provide evidence that if the prior stages have been glossed over, action itself is often not enough. Any action taken by patients should be praised because it demonstrates the desire for lifestyle change. MAINTENANCE AND RELAPSE PREVENTION Maintenance and relapse prevention involve incorporating the new behavior “over the long haul.” Discouragement over occasional “slips” may halt the change process and result in the patient giving up. However, most patients find themselves “recycling” through the stages of change several times before the change becomes truly established. The Stages of Change model4 encompasses many concepts from previously developed models. The Health Belief model,19 the Locus of Control model20 and behavioral models fit together well within this framework. During the precontemplation stage, patients do not consider change. They may not believe that their behavior is a problem or that it will negatively affect them (Health Belief Model19), or they may be resigned to their unhealthy behavior because of previous failed efforts and no longer believe that they have control (external Locus of Control20). During the contemplation stage, patients struggle with ambivalence, weighing the pros and cons of their current behavior and the benefits of and barriers to change (Health Belief model19 ). Cognitive-behavioral models of change (e.g., focusing on coping skills or environmental manipulation) and 12-Step programs fit well in the preparation, action and maintenance stages (Table 1).4,6 View/Print Table TABLE 1. Stages of Change Model Stage in transtheoretical model of change Patient stage Incorporating other explanatory/treatment models Precontemplation Not thinking about change Locus of Control May be resigned Health Belief Model Feeling of no control Motivational interviewing Denial: does not believe it applies to self Believes consequences are not serious Contemplation Weighing benefits and costs of behavior, proposed change Health Belief Model Motivational interviewing Preparation Experimenting with small changes Cognitive-behavioral therapy Action Taking a definitive action to change Cognitive-behavioral therapy 12-Step program Maintenance Maintaining new behavior over time Cognitive-behavioral therapy 12-Step program Relapse Experiencing normal part of process of change Motivational interviewing 12-Step program Usually feels demoralized TABLE 1. Stages of Change Model Stage in transtheoretical model of change Patient stage Incorporating other explanatory/treatment models Precontemplation Not thinking about change Locus of Control May be resigned Health Belief Model Feeling of no control Motivational interviewing Denial: does not believe it applies to self Believes consequences are not serious Contemplation Weighing benefits and costs of behavior, proposed change Health Belief Model Motivational interviewing Preparation Experimenting with small changes Cognitive-behavioral therapy Action Taking a definitive action to change Cognitive-behavioral therapy 12-Step program Maintenance Maintaining new behavior over time Cognitive-behavioral therapy 12-Step program Relapse Experiencing normal part of process of change Motivational interviewing 12-Step program Usually feels demoralized

Interventions Jump to section + Abstract

Lessons Learned from Smoking and Alcohol Cessation

Understanding Change

Interventions

Helping the ‘Stuck’ Patient

Relapse from Changed Behavior

Additional Tools

Involving Others

Final Comment

References The Stages of Change model4 is useful for selecting appropriate interventions. By identifying a patient's position in the change process, physicians can tailor the intervention, usually with skills they already possess. Thus, the focus of the office visit is not to convince the patient to change behavior but to help the patient move along the stages of change. Using the framework of the Stages of Change model,4 the goal for a single encounter is a shift from the grandiose (“Get patient to change unhealthy behavior.”) to the realistic (“Identify the stage of change and engage patient in a process to move to the next stage.”).4 Starting with brief and simple advice makes sense because some patients will indeed change their behavior at the directive of their physician. (This step also prevents precontemplators from rationalizing that, “My doctor never told me to quit.”). Rather than viewing this step as the intervention, physicians should view this as the opening assessment of where patients are in the behavior change process. A patient's response to this direct advice will provide helpful information on which physicians can base the next step in the physician-patient dialog. Rather than continue merely to educate and admonish, interventions based on the Stages of Change model4 can be appropriately tailored to each patient to enhance success. A physician who provides concrete advice about smoking cessation when a patient remarks that family members who smoke have not died from lung cancer, has not matched the intervention to the patient's stage of change. A few minutes spent listening to the patient and then appropriately matching physician intervention to patient readiness to change can improve communication and outcome. Patients at the precontemplation and contemplation stages can be especially challenging for physicians. Motivational interviewing techniques have been found to be most effective. Miller and colleagues21 replicated studies with “problem drinkers,” demonstrating that an empathetic therapist style was predictive of decreased drinking while a confrontational style predicted increased drinking. Motivational interviewing incorporates empathy and reflective listening with key questions so that physicians are simultaneously patient-centered and directive. Controlled studies have shown motivational interviewing techniques to be at least as effective as cognitive-behavioral techniques and 12-step facilitation interventions, and they are easily adaptable for use by family physicians.22–27