Satterfield and Buelow (1995) discuss a trans-theoretical model of change that is believed to be common to individuals both in and outside of counseling. The model consists of four stages that include the pre-contemplation stage, contemplation stage, action stage, and maintenance stage. The pre-contemplation stage is characterized by people who are in denial. They do not think that they have a problem. The contemplation stage is characterized by people who realize that they have a problem and are beginning to look for possible solutions. In the action stage, people are characterized actively working to change their behavior. The maintenance stage is characterized by the prevention of relapse.
The authors conducted a study to investigate the relationship between clients’ expectations of counseling and the four stages of change. They conducted their study at a medium-sized university with a sample size of 88 clients who were seeking services at the university based clinic. The first variable used was a composite score measuring the four stages of change as measured by URICA. The other variable was the expectations of counseling as measured by the EAC-B factors of personal commitment, facilitative conditions, counselor expertise, and nurturance.
Canonical Correlation was used as an additional procedure for assessing the relationship between the two sets of variables. The authors evaluated the significance of all canonical roots combined, then of the roots remaining after removing the first root and the second root. The results of the study showed that this testing procedure will detect strong canonical correlations most of the time, even with samples of relatively small size such as the one at the university clinic. The authors recommended that the weaker canonical correlations require larger sample sizes.
The results of the study showed that personal commitment and facilitative conditions were significantly correlated. The pre-contemplation stage was negatively correlated with the expectation factors. The contemplation, action, and maintenance stages were highly related to the expectation factors.
The idea behind the stages of change model is that behavior change does not happen in one step. People tend to progress through different stages on their way to successful change. So expecting someone to change by simply telling them that he or she must go to counseling can be considered counterproductive because they are not ready to change. This stage of change model is perfect for clients who are addicted to substance such as alcoholics.
However, most critics of this model will say that people do not progress through this model in a linear fashion. Some clients may begin at the contemplation stage, realizing that they have a problem and want to change, but revert back to the pre-contemplation stage. If the therapist doesn’t appear to be trustworthy as perceived by the client, they can become resistant and have low expectation of counseling.
Clients in the pre-contemplation stage would be considered to have low expectations of counseling. This is understandable since they are currently in denial that they have a problem. Alcoholics need to realize that they have a problem instead of being forced into counseling. As a result, the counselor will meet the most resistance from a client who is still in the pre-contemplation stage as they do not want to be in counseling. Examples of clients in the pre-contemplation stage would be court-ordered clients and adolescents, and people with addictive behaviors such as alcoholics and the super obese.
References
Satterfield, W., & Buelow, S. (1995, October). Client stages of change and expectations about counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 42(4), 476. Retrieved April 11, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.
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