The Stages of Change is a model that was originally created to work with people engaging in substance abuse, but it has been put to use for many other health-related issues or problem behaviors. I don't think it is a huge leap to relate the Stages to social issues which often involve the health of humans.
Climate change, racism, capitalism, and the two party system, to just start with a few, are all issues that involve a majority of people in pre-contemplation, in my opinion. People in pre-contemplation are completely unmotivated. They have no will to do anything differently.
How do we work with people (societies) in pre-contemplation?
I don't have an answer to this question. It's a question that plagues anyone who has a loved one who struggles with substance abuse. Getting people from pre-contemplation to contemplation is not an easy task, and many attempts are met with resistance. As far as social movements, many have pit one group against another. It's us vs. them. This type of approach will almost always create resistance. Increasing awareness and education might be the key. But that brings up other questions: How do we educate people who don't want to be educated or who believe the information they are receiving is incorrect? Maybe it all comes back to what the community of Mart found: Common ground. If we can figure out what unites us, we can build from there.
References:
Kelly, D. (2014, October 7). Blog post #5 [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://swo-403dankelly.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-post-5.html
Manual of Psychiatry. (2010, October 28). Stages of change [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://manualofpsychiatry.com/2010/10/28/stages-of-change/
Singer, J. B. (2009, October 10). Prochaska and DiClemente's Stages of Change Model for Social Workers (Episode 53). [Audio Podcast] Retrieved from http://socialworkpodcast.com/2009/10/prochaska-and-diclementes-stages-of.html
Sonya, really nice conclusion. I like how you refer that back to Paula's project in Mart and how powerful that was for that community. I agree with your thought, what if our country could come together on a common ground? The scale is much different than a smaller community like Mart but it must start somewhere. On another note, I have seen this Stages of Change map outlined before in a Fitness&Wellness class; this model seems so versatile to me that it can be adapted to almost any behavior. I know that with myself, I have thought deeply about this model/ and a behavior, and I do believe with the effort (which the effort has to be there) change can be made. Substance abuse is certainly one of the most difficult behaviors to change, but there is hope when models like this have successful reputations.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! You have brought up some extremely important points that people all together need to realize which are the unawareness of the problem, resistance to accepting there is a problem, and feelings of no control. I'm sure that everyone at some point in their lives have had this feelings...I know that I have. Especially the feeling of no control especially over huge societal problems. I wonder what could one little voice possible change? Maybe something, maybe nothing but many little voices that feel the same may have a better chance of achieving success which then creates the us vs. them again creating resistance to change. I agree that increasing awareness and education are the key but I also feel that giving people a voice is also a key factor. I like the idea of the social labs because everyone starts off coming from a different background and having slightly different opinions but in the end they all want to achieve the same thing. I feel like voices are being heard to help create change.
ReplyDeleteHi Sonya,
ReplyDeleteSince talking to you on Thursday I remembered the authors of the decision making model I was telling you about. Darley and Latane (1968) said that for an individual to act in an emergency, they must 1) notice the event, 2) interpret it as an emergency, 3) assume responsibility, 4) decide on the proper action to be taken, and, most relevant to your post, 5) decide to help. Encouraging, though, is that the stages build off of each other; e.g., stage five is more likely to be completed if previous stages were adequately addressed.
But how do we increase awareness (thereby completing stage 1 and 2 of Darley & Latane's model)? I read an article last week (Tighe, 2010) that said treating public resistance with education is often (but not always) likely to fail because of the illogical nature of personally held values that are more related to physiological arousal (i.e., "gut") than rational reasoning. Huh, I now have more questions....
Yes Dan! That's the thing. Education works and education doesn't work. A person has to be open and willing to learn. Again, they need to have some kind of motivation.
DeleteP.S., Thanks for the plug!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt may be about finding the “Common Ground,” but also about starting small within our own communities. Whether, it is solving problems, educating people, advocating for a cause, and providing awareness to others in the community.
ReplyDeleteWell said Sonya. David Wagner, in his book "Confronting Homelessness," discusses discusses different stages of social issues. One of them being the 'sober realization and loss of interest stage' in which the true cost of change becomes overwhelming and people decide that it isn't worth the effort. I hate to say that we are lazy but, in my opinion, that's what it boils down to. Most of us still have it pretty good and BAU is sooo much easier than real change.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you touched on the "us vs. them" issue. I think we need to be more accepting (even welcoming) of differences. We need to focus more on commonalities rather than disparities.