READINESS FOR CHANGE

The readiness for change interview is an instrument used to determine the readiness for change in a community and it is aimed at key informants in a community. This model for community change, developed by the Tri-Ethnic Centre at Colorado State University integrates community culture, resources, and level of readiness to more affectively address an issue, in this case, the harm associated with excessive drinking. It allows the community to define issues and strategies in their own context. In other words, using this instrument gives the community an opportunity to address issues of particular importance for that unique community. The model can be downloaded from here.

The main benefit of using the readiness for change instrument is that it helps the community to maximise available resources by identifying interventions that are likely to be accepted by the community and as such be successful in their implementation. It also assists in breaking down complex issues into a number of manageable steps that appear less threatening to work with.

Using a snowball sampling method, 16 individuals in various positions around the community of Kalgoorlie-Boulder were interviewed using a readiness for change instrument modified for local context.

The main findings were:

The overall score for Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the issue of alcohol related harm was 3.0 which indicates Vague Awareness, that is most feel that there is a local concern, but there is no immediate motivation to do anything about it. Ideas about why the problem occurs and who has the problem tend to be stereotyped and/or vague. No identifiable leadership exists or leadership lacks energy or motivation for dealing with this problem.
Some of the strategies that can be used to raise awareness that the community can do something about alcohol related harm in Kalgoorlie-Boulder includes presenting information at local community events and to unrelated community groups, posting flyers, posters, and billboards, initiating events and using those opportunities to present information on the issue and publish newspaper editorials and articles with general information and local implications.

A copy of the complete report, in PDF format can be downloaded here.

Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from this website.