Core Constructs of the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change

Based on the integration of the leading theories of psychotherapy, Prochaska and colleagues postulated the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change in the late eighties of the last century. The model represents a new framework for understanding intentional human change. Th e core constructs of the model are processes of change, stages of change, decisional balance and self-effi cacy. The processes of change are defined as cognitive, emotional and behavioral activities used to explain changes of a problem behavior, feeling or thinking. Th e stages of change represent a temporal dimension of the model and refer to one’s readiness to act on a new behavior. Motivational constructs (i.e. decisional balance and self-effi cacy) have been defined within the frameworks of other psychological theories and are used by the authors of the Transtheoretical Model for better understanding and characterizing change.