Motivational Interviewing Training in Health Care

Motivational Interviewing (MI): 

“A collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation of and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion." (Miller & Rollnick, 2013)

Many organizations now provide MI training for their healthcare staff. And for good reason. There are over 900 clinical trials completed or in progress¹ that demonstrate the efficacy of the MI approach in improving patient engagement, self-care, and adherence to treatment plan. In addition, multiple reviews of literature indicate MI is the most standardized and researched health coaching approach, and the only one to be consistently associated with positive clinical outcomes. ^2,3,4,5

Challenges:

However, although used extensively in the counseling world, MI has proven challenging to successfully integrate into the healthcare setting for several reasons:

• The MI approach is a complex skill-set that doesn’t lend itself to a one-and-done training. After initial training, ongoing skill-building activities are needed.
• Using the MI approach can feel counter-intuitive to clinicians who have been trained to use an information-driven and directive patient education method.
• Building proficiency in MI demands practice and concrete feedback on a consistent basis, similar to learning to play a musical instrument or a difficult sport like golf.
• Unless an organization is recording patient sessions with clinicians that are assessed for fidelity to MI using a validated assessment tool, there is no way to determine if staff are proficient or even using MI.

Q-consult Solutions:

We offer comprehensive motivational interviewing training and follow-up activities that result in full MI proficiency, including:

• Onsite MI introductory and advanced workshops.
• Online interactive eLearning for MI.
• Feedback reports based on the Motivational Interviewing Competency Assessment (MICA) system.
• Telephonic one-on-one skill-building sessions for staff based on real patient sessions.
• MI Case Review: a dynamic new service that has received rave reviews from our clients. This online cost-effective program allows your staff to collaborate on MI case studies in a flexible and engaging way. For organizations, we can tailor the cases for your population and setting. For individuals, we welcome you to our community MI case review. 
• ​The MI Skill Set App is available for download on iOS and Android platforms. It provides the user with evidence based tips and explanations to keep complex MI concepts fresh even after initial training. You can access it by going to miskillset.com to register. There is a free version and also a premium content version (which includes access to the MI Case Review.)