Motivational Interviewing 2 Flashcards
5 opening strategies for early sessions
- Ask open-ended questions
- Listen reflectively
- Summarize
- Affirm
- Elicit self-motivational statements
Examples of open-ended questions
“Tell me what you like about your current lifestyle?
“What’s happened since we last met?”
“What makes you think it might be time for a change?”
“What brought you here today?”
“What happens when you behave that way?”
“Tell me more about when this first began.”
“What’s different for you this time?”
“What was that like for you?”
Examples of reflective listening (Generic)
- “It sounds like….”
- “What I hear you saying…”
- “So on the one hand it sounds like …. And, yet on the other hand….”
- “It seems as if….”
- “I get the sense that….”
- “It feels as though….”
What is the intent of normalizing?
- communicate to clients that having difficulties while changing is not uncommon
- they are not alone in their experience or in their ambivalence about changing
Normalizing is NOT intended to
- Make them feel comfortable with not changing
- Want to help them understand that many people experience difficulty changing
Examples of normalizing
- “Many people report feeling like you do. They want to be able to exercise, but find it difficult.”
- “That is not unusual, many people report having made several attempts at starting an exercise program before they succeed.”
- “A lot of people are concerned about their pain preventing them from exercising”
What do affirmative responses or supportive statements by therapists do?
verify and acknowledge clients’ behavior changes and attempts to change
When providing affirmation, what should therapists avoid doing?
making statements that sound overly ingratiating (“wow, that’s incredible!” or “That’s great, I knew you could do it!”)
While affirmations help to increase clients’ confidence in their ability to change, they also need to
sound genuine
Examples of affirmative statements
- “Your commitment really shows by doing your HEP consistently.
- “You showed a lot of determination by doing that.”
- “It’s clear that you’re really trying to change your lifestyle.”
- “By the way you handled that situation, you showed a lot of strength and courage.”
- “With all the obstacles you have right now, it’s impressive that you’ve been able to go to the gym consistently.”
Questions to elicit/evoke change talk
- “What would you like to see different about your current situation?”
- “What makes you think you need to change?”
- “What will happen if you don’t change?”
- “What would be the good things about changing your lifestyle?”
- “What would your life be like 3 years from now if you changed your lifestyle/habits?
What are some of the major benefits to motivational interviewing?
- low cost
- effective
- compatibility with healthcare delivery
- emphasizes client motivation
- enhances adherence
benefits to motivational interviewing: effectiveness
Large effects from brief motivational counseling have held up across a wide variety of real-life clinical settings.
benefits to motivational interviewing: compatibility with hc delivery
- does not assume a long-term client-therapist relationship.
- even a single session has been found to invoke behavior change
- can be delivered within the context of larger health care delivery systems
benefits to motivational interviewing: client motivation emphasis
- client motivation is a strong predictor of change
- puts 1˚ emphasis on building that motivation, even if they don’t stay for a long course of tx
