Stages of change across ten health risk behaviors for older adults

Owing to the recent success of the Transtheoretical Model of behavior chang e and the possible relationships between health behaviors, this study inves tigated the stage distribution of 10 healthy behaviors (seatbelt use, avoid ance of high fat food, eating a high-fiber diet, attempting to lose weight, exercising regularly, avoiding sun exposure, sunscreen use, attempting to reduce stress, stopping smoking, and conducting cancer self-exams) and thei r interrelationships in a representative sample of health maintenance organ ization (HMO) members. The majority of older adults were found to be in eit her precontemplation or maintenance, illustrating the need to target interv entions to precontemplation. Most older individuals were in precontemplatio n for losing weight and/or sunscreen use and exercise, making these behavio rs a priority for intervention research. Possible gateway behaviors to gene ral health could be identified; however, these results are preliminary and require longitudinal follow-up.