title: Motivational interviewing techniques - facilitating behaviour change in the general practice setting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One of the biggest challenges that primary care practitioners face is helping people change longstanding behaviours that pose significant health risks.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore current understanding regarding how and why people change, and the potential role of motivational interviewing in facilitating behaviour change in the general practice setting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Research into health related behaviour change highlights the importance of motivation, ambivalence and resistance. Motivational interviewing is a counselling method that involves enhancing a patient's motivation to change by means of four guiding principles, represented by the acronym RULE: Resist the righting reflex; Understand the patient's own motivations; Listen with empathy; and Empower the patient. Recent meta-analyses show that motivational interviewing is effective for decreasing alcohol and drug use in adults and adolescents and evidence is accumulating in others areas of health including smoking cessation, reducing sexual risk behaviours, improving adherence to treatment and medication and diabetes management.
authors.affiliation: Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. kateh@turningpoint.org.au
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gibbie
authors.forename: Dan I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Lubman
mesh_terms: D058006:General Practice / Q000379:methods*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D062405:Motivational Interviewing / Q000379:methods*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations