Stage of Change

Stage of Change

Amanda Peffer

Kaplan University

LAB 3-1: Step 1- Identify a Health Behavior to Change

A health behavior change I would like to undertake is reducing stress. Stress has many negative effects on the body. Stress negatively impacts the body causing headaches, elevated blood pressure, stomach upsets, and insomnia (Abel and O’Brien, 2014).

Step 2- Find your current stage of change

1. Do I get 7-9 hours of sleep most nights of the week?

2. Have I been getting easily agitated, frustrated, and moody?

3. Have I been having difficulty in quieting my mind and relaxing?

4. Have I been avoiding others?

5. Have I been experiencing low self-esteem?

6. Have I been experiencing stomach upsets?

7. Have I had a change in my appetite?

8. Have I exhibited more nervous behavior such as fidgeting, nail biting, and pacing?

9. Have I been experiencing any headaches?

3. Read all of the possible answers to your question in Step 2 carefully. Choose the best response for your question.

1. A

2. B

3. B

4. B

5. B

6. B

7. B

8. B

9. B

I am at the action stage in my current health behavior.

Stage of Change

From the lab 3-1 exercises, I found out that the current behavior I would love to change is reducing stress. Stress has many negative effects on the body. Stress negatively impacts the body causing headaches, elevated blood pressure, stomach upsets, and insomnia (Abel and O’Brien, 2014). Changing the stress behavior into questions, I determined from the scoring matrix that I am at the action stage with my current health behavior.

There are five stages of change, pre-contemplation stage, contemplation stage, preparation stage, action stage and the maintenance stage (Connors, DiClemente, Velasquez, and Donovan, 2013). Individuals within the pre-contemplation stage do not even think about their current behavior they would like to change. The contemplation stage of change contains individuals who are willing to consider the...