Measuring Readiness to Change among Individuals in Residential Therapeutic Community Programs for Treatment of Substance Abuse

The Stages of Change Scale-Substance Abuse (SCS-SA) was developed to measure readiness to change among individuals in treatment for substance abuse and was field tested with 457 participants in 7 therapeutic community programs in 4 different states. Factor analysis on SCS-SA items defined 4 subscales: Precontemplation, Determination, Participation, and Relapse. Using cluster analysis, 4 clusters of participants were identified, based on their profiles of SCS-SA subscale scores: (a) Indifferent, (b) Active Participation-Realistic, (c) Active Participation-Optimistic, and (d) Conforming. Finally, a discriminant analysis indicated significant differentiation among the clusters on the basis of sense of coherence scores. With continuing research to document reliability and validity, the SCS-SA appears to have potential in facilitating treatment planning and research to better understand readiness to change.