Which of the following is NOT a stage of change?

• A. Action
• B. Maintenance
• C. Procrastination
• D. Precontemplation

Answer: (C)

The stages of change describe where a person is in adopting a new behavior: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. Procrastination isn’t a formal stage in this sequence; it’s simply delaying action and can happen at any point, but it’s not one of the defined stages. Understanding this helps you tailor interventions to where someone actually is—for example, in Precontemplation you’d focus on awareness, in Contemplation on weighing pros and cons, in Preparation on planning concrete steps, in Action on building new behaviors, and in Maintenance on sustaining change and preventing relapse. The other options—Action, Maintenance, and Precontemplation—are indeed stages of change.