Stage distributions for five health behaviors in the United States and Australia

Background. A key variable for the design of individual and public health i nterventions is the Stage of Change. The five stages of readiness to change are Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance . The distribution of individuals across the stages of change can provide a valuable tool for designing health interventions. Methods. The pattern of distribution across the stages of change for five b ehavioral risk factors is presented from five independent surveys, two from the United States and three from Australia. The five risk factors are smok ing, low fat diet, regular exercise, reducing stress, and losing weight. Id entical single-item questionnaire items for staging health behaviors were u sed in all surveys. Results. The stage distributions for the five risk factors were similar acr oss the five independent samples. In general, the pattern of stage distribu tions was stable across health risk factors, gender, country, and sample. Conclusions. Single-item survey measures of stage of change that are readil y applicable to population studies appear to provide important information about the population characteristics of readiness to change behavioral risk factors. The stability of these distributions suggests that interventions matched by stage may have broad applicability. (C) 1999 American Health Fou ndation and Academic Press.