Motivational interviewing.
Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centered, directive therapeutic style to enhance readiness for change by helping clients explore and resolve ambivalence. An evolution of Rogers's person-centered counseling approach, MI elicits the client's own motivations for change. The rapidly growing evidence base for MI is summarized in a new meta-analysis of 72 clinical trials spanning a range of target problems. The average short-term between-group effect size of MI was 0.77, decreasing to 0.30 at follow-ups to one year. Observed effect sizes of MI were larger with ethnic minority populations, and when the practice of MI was not manual-guided. The highly variable effectiveness of MI across providers, populations, target problems, and settings suggests a need to understand and specify how MI exerts its effects. Progress toward a theory of MI is described, as is research on how clinicians develop proficiency in this method.
Hettema
Jennifer
J
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-1161, USA. jhettema@unm.edu
Steele
Julie
J
Miller
William R
WR
D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome