The Effect of Behavior Exchange Program on Risky Behaviors

Risky behaviors, which derive their source from features specific to adolescence, may also pose problems in other periods of a person's life and have features that prevent them from becoming responsible adults. These behaviors are defined by Jessor as behaviors that cause personal, social or developmental undesirable consequences and are life-threatening or harmful to health and even actions that can lead to death. Risky behaviors in young people are frequently listed as smoking, alcohol/substance use, nutrition, suicide, school dropout, and destructive behaviors (violence against self/others, etc.). It has been conducted with studies that generally do not take into account the stage of change or accept that all individuals' readiness for behavior change is the same. However, the Transtheoretic Model states that the most appropriate initiatives should be used to facilitate the change in which the individual is at the stage of change. He also states that the initiatives applied without considering the individual's readiness for behavior change develop resistance against behavior change. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of the behavior change program prepared based on the transtheoretic model on the risky behaviors of university students receiving health education.