Revisiting prochaska and DiClementeʹs stages of change theory: An expansion and specification to aid in treatment planning and outcome evaluation Original Research Article

Why people change and why they do not change is a question that therapists have asked for many years. For almost two decades one model of change has stood as the standard bearer in conceptualizing the stages of change in therapy. The need to modify the Prochaska and DiClemente model of change has come out of our own experiences in working with patients with a variety of mental health issues. The addition of these new stages reflects the experiences of clients and therapists both in and out of the therapeutic process. The original model has guided not only our therapy but our research as well. We now face times of increasing scrutiny of our therapeutic process and a reliance on research-based outcome evaluation. This increased scrutiny requires us to provide models with more precision to truly describe what we do and how we do it. The development of this expanded model of change was designed to fulfill that very purpose of more precision. This model will hopefully provide the clinician, the researcher, the third party payer and ultimately the patient with a more experience-centered focus from which to make their decisions.