Assessing your client’s readiness to quit allows you to develop a strategy for intervention based on their needs and willingness to change behaviour.

Using this simple assessment will allow you to identify your client’s readiness to quit.

Question: Have you quit smoking cigarettes?

Client Answer:

• "Yes I have - for more than 6 months"
    Stage: Maintenance

• "Yes I have - but for less than 6 months"
    Stage: Action

• "No but I intend to - in the next 30 days - and I've tried for at least 24 hours in the past year"
    Stage: Preparation

• "No but I intend to - in the next 6 months"
    Stage: Contemplation

• "No - and I do not intend to in the next 6 months"
    Stage: Pre-contemplation

Reprinted with permission. Program Training and Consultation Centre. (1995). Info Pack: Understanding and using the stages of change, Ottawa, Ontario: Ontario Tobacco Strategy.