Stage of change and decisional balance for women seeking alcohol treatment.

Stage of change and decisional balance have been used to understand motivation for changes in health behavior. This study examined relationships between these constructs in a sample of 119 alcohol-dependent women presenting for alcohol treatment. Before treatment, participants completed measures of readiness to change and perceived benefits and costs of changing drinking behavior. Results showed that individuals who exhibited greater readiness to change perceived more advantages and fewer disadvantages of changing their drinking behavior. This was true for the scale scores of Precontemplation and Action on the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RCQ), but Contemplation scale scores were unrelated to decisional balance variables. When analyzed by stage, individuals in Action reported more benefits relative to costs than individuals in Contemplation. Thus, the constructs of stage of change and decisional balance appear to be related and may prove to be useful in enhancing motivation in alcohol-dependent women.