The Transtheoretical Model – six steps towards behavioural change

The Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change assesses an individual's readiness to act on a new healthier behavior, and provides strategies, or processes of change to guide the individual through the stages of change to action and maintenance.
The Transtheoretical Model is also known by the acronym TTM and by the term "stages of change model".

In the Transtheoretical Model, change is a process involving progress through a series of stages:

1. Precontemplation – people are not intending to take action in the foreseeable future, and are most likely unaware that their behaviour is problematic
2. Contemplation – people are beginning to recognize that their behaviour is problematic, and start to look at the pros and cons of their continued actions
3. Preparation – people are intending to take action in the immediate future, and may begin taking small steps towards change
4. Action – people have made specific overt modifications in their life style, and positive change has occurred
5. Maintenance – people are working to prevent relapse," a stage which can last indefinitely
6. Termination – individuals have zero temptation and 100% self-efficacy... they are sure they will not return to their old unhealthy habit as a way of coping

In addition, the researchers conceptualized "relapse" (recycling) which is not a stage in itself but rather the "return from action or maintenance to an earlier stage."

For the campaign „Start your brains - not your car“ fairkehr made use of this model of behavioural change: While designing the messages for the campaign the team took into consideration that behavioural change is a long term process and conceived three phases out of the six steps of TTM. These were transferred into three campaign phases.

Read more about the campaign in the magazine „fairkehr“.

Visit the campaign’s webpage.