Abstract

ROTH U., Erick; EXENI B., Scherezada  and  UNIVERSIDAD CATA³LICA BOLIVIANA A€œSAN PABLOA€. Etapas del proceso de Cambio. Exploration of the Validity and Reliability of the Measurement Instrument in readiness to change in smokers. RAP [online]. 2010, vol.8, n.2, pp. 101-121. ISSN 2077-2161.

ABSTRACT The present paper describes the adaptation process of “University of Rhode Island Change Assessment” URICA to Bolivian socio-cultural context. The study was conducted with a 402 habitual cigarette smokers sample of La Paz city, both male and female between 14 and 80 years old. URICA adapted, originally developed by Prochaska and DiClemente, under Trans Theoretical Model of Change, is an instrument Likert type scale with 32 items and 1 to 5 response options structure. This instrument was developed to measure the posit ion of an individual in a continuum of change process stages: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation Maintenance and Action. The factorial validity obtained by Varimax rotation method, confirmed a multi-factorial structure of URICA, extracting only three components (Precontemplation, Contemplation and Action) in spite of the four factors measured by original instrument. Rotations offered saturated values over .370, explaining 42,389 per cent of the total variance. Likewise, reliability data informed an acceptable measure consistency expressed by an alpha coefficient of .86 (.63 for pre-contemplation, .86 for contemplation, and .84 for action). The study offered also conclusions and recommendations for better application of URICA adapted.

Keywords : University of Rhode Island Change Assessment; URICA; Trans Theoretical Model of Change; Stages of Change Process.