According to the description, and in lieu of the change process, it is easy to conclude that the stage of change model is the contemplation stage. At this stage, an individual is in a situation where she ‘sits on the fence’. She knows she wants to quit a bad habit, or wants to effect a certain change of situation but is not sure how. The following reasons explain the position that she is in the contemplation stage. Firstly, she is quite open to information about the problem. This may explain why she is at the nutritionist’s and why she is talking to the counselor. Secondly, she reports that though she is not on any particular medication, she is takes multivitamins albeit inconsistently. This is a positive behavior towards the right direction already. Importantly too, she made an attempt to visit the doctor, a move which led to her lab values being evaluated. Having expressed concern over the low values in her lab report indicates that she has located that there is a problem.
The fact that she has identified certain problems means that she has started to see the need for change. She, however, still finds herself in a situation where she feels her weight must be strictly under check. Her move to change would, in such a situation, be guided by the counselor.
An important way to approach therapy to such a client is establishing a nurturing relationship, and encouraging and helping the client to be able evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the resolve to change behavior. The counselor should help the client to promote positive and new expectations and outcomes( Armitage, 2009).
In order to achieve behavior change, the following skills would be necessary. First, motivational interviewing will encourages the client and help them to achieve a realistic perspective on her situation and point towards a positive future. Second, open-question interviewing is another skill that will help the client to open up and share with the counselor much more about herself. This will then help the counselor to assist the client to make a decision to move to the preparation stage. Third, question asking is a skill that will help the counselor to understand client motivation.
Cognitive behavioral skills that will be helpful for the counselor during this stage include play and games that will help deepen the understanding of the client to understand the behavior, its consequences and the alternative positive behavior much better. It may also be helpful for the counselor to actually be able to provide thought-provoking and insightful homework( Hall, 2008).
Concerning exercising, foremost, it is important to highlight that exercising is an important event which improves the overall health of individuals. However, it is important to help the client to understand that maintaining reasonable weight is important for one’s overall optimum health. There should be a balance between over-exercising leading to excessive reduction of weight and lack of exercising which is not good for promotes accumulation of fat and being overweight. In addition, the client should be advised to maintain a good balance between exercise and nutrition and that a proper nutrition plan needs to go hand in hand with the exercise plan.
References
Armitage, CJ. (2009)Is there utility in the transtheoretical model? Br J Health Psychol
14(Pt 2):195–210.
Hall, K.L. & Rossi, J. S. (2008) Meta-analysis Examination of the sting and weak principals
across 48 behaviors. Preventative Medicine, 46, 266-274.
