WHY DO WE BEHAVE THE WAY WE DO

Changing high risk behaviours involves progress through six stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintena nce and termination. Stage-matched programs for cardiovascular disease prevention can produce much higher participation rates than tradition al action-oriented programs (80 to 85% versus 1 to 5%). The amount of success following intervention is directly related to the state of cha nge participants are in before intervention. Helping people progress t hrough the stages involves matching particular processes and principle s of change to particular stages of change.