When attempting to find a topic to talk about in this blog and knowing that I wanted to discuss the stages of change model, I found relating this to something that I am actively involved in right now in my life. Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts ( 2012) discusses the stages of change model and notates the example of smoking, but what better than a real life application of the process than my own struggles with this? I thought of the several attempts which I have unsuccessful been through and found that I was not effectively going through the process, maybe this time will be different. That by participating in each step of the process, I will have a higher potential for success.
When looking at the process of quitting smoking, some would say when you are ready, you just will quit. In comparing this with the stages of change model, one key component is missing from this statement. There is no process within this idea about change. Until reading about the stages of change theory and learning about how one has to work themselves through the process, I thought that it would just come to me…sort of as an epiphany. I found myself trying to put patches on, throwing out many half-opened packs of cigarettes, and making valiant attempts to go “cold turkey”. None of these worked…there was no preparation.
The first few stages of the stages of change model involves the pre-action. It involves precontemplation (no intent to change at all), contemplation (acknowledgement of the need to make a change), and preparation (beginning to take action and preparing to make the change) as noted by Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts (2012). When I was attempting to quit in the times past, I would jump straight from contemplation to action, with little regard for preparation. Looking back, I was missing a key component to ensure that I would be able to change my behavior.
As I type this blog, I am actively involved in the preparation stage. I have chosen a quit date: February 18, 2015 and I have begun to think of my life as it would be without cigarettes. Mentally, it is important to plan how you will do things without a habit and reconstructing your actions throughout the day is important to making a change. Self-efficacy is an important aspect to change as well and involves belief in ourselves as to whether or not we have the skills to make the change (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Mentally I am preparing and training myself to believe that I will be able to accomplish the goal of quitting smoking, that I will be able to change my actions to achieve this goal. The two final stages as noted by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts ( 2012) are action and maintenance and will involve completely abstaining from smoking. The action stage will move into the maintenance stage after six months of being smoke free. That is a long way away when thinking about quitting smoking, and I will have to take it one day at a time.
I found it interesting to give this theory some real-life application and from my recent experience, the beginning stages are of the utmost importance. One cannot successfully make a change without engaging in some form of all of the stages. Another thing to be noted is that I feel better about my unsuccessful previous attempts. As indicated by Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts ( 2012), because of this change model, one is more likely to see change as a process rather than a do or don’t or a be-all, end-all. I don’t necessarily feel as though I have failed but rather made smaller relapses in my process of smoking cessation.
Smoking cessation is a process and in order to make a change, one must go through the steps of change. They must be willing and prepared for the action in order to change to be effective. I have wanted to make this change for a long time and I have battled it several times unsuccessfully by not using the complete process. Using the information of the stages of change model, I am more able to see how this is a process and how to complete the process. I must give it time and effort, and most importantly, go through and accept the process of change.
Schneider, F., Gruman, J. & Coutts, L. (2012). Applied social psychology: understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles: Sage.
I really enjoyed your post about quitting smoking! I have many friends who smoke and who have been on and off quitting in the past. I can think of many times I have seen my friends wearing nicotine patches or even switching to E-Cigs for relief, but for the most part they all still smoke. I have even had a few friends to have gotten pregnant, quite smoking for close to a year or so, and then started back up again. I like how you wrote about using the stages of change model because it made sense when I looked at the behavior my smoking friends have taken. For most of them, they want to quit at some point. Some of them have an age they want to quit by or an event they want to quit for; and they are adamant about quitting, but they never really have a plan, like you said. They just kind of stop smoking cold turkey when they have reached the moment when they said they would stop. Then they start smoking again at some point. It would seem that their reasons for wanting to quit are good ones; they want to quit for their kids, they want to quit for their health, cigarettes cost too much, etc. They never really planned, though, what quitting was going to be like. They just stopped. I agree with you on your comments about self-efficacy and I think it makes a big deal as to whether or not a person really can change a behavior in their life as big as smoking. I thought I would add to your post by sharing this link from smokefree. gov (2015), http://smokefree.gov/quit-plan, that shows a very comprehensive quit plan for smokers who want to stop smoking. It includes letting your loved ones know you are quitting and even setting up rewards for yourself. It really goes into detail about how it is a continuous motion when it comes to quitting, but it is totally worth the benefits. I hope it helps others like you and my friends stop smoking.
References
Smokefree.gov, 2015. Have You Built a Quit Plan? Retrieved from http://smokefree.gov/quit-plan.