Readiness to change was measured at baseline by the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RCQ; Heather, Rollnick, & Bell, 1993). The RCQ is a 12-item self-report measure designed to provide a single stage of change assignment (precontemplation, contemplation, or action) as well as a continuous score for each of the three stages of change. Items were presented on a 5-point Likert scale that ranged from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” (e.g., “I am trying to drink less than I used to,” “I enjoy my drinking, but sometimes I drink too much”). In the present study, four items capturing the precontemplation stage were reverse coded, and averaged with the other items to create a continuous scale score (α = .88 at baseline). Higher scores reflect a person's greater readiness to start to change or to actually be changing his or her drinking habits.5
