Breakthrough or bandwagon? Are interventions tailored to Stage of Change more effective than non-staged interventions?

There has been considerable interest in the application of the Stages of Change model developed by Prochaska and DiClemente. Much has been written about the model's implications for lifestyle change interventions, and national training programmes are underway to train health care staff to provide brief stage-specific interventions. However, there is, as yet, relatively little evidence comparing stage-based with non-stage-based interventions. It is argued from this review of the evidence that it is difficult to generalise from existing research to support brief staff-training approaches.