Motivational interviewing

(from the chapter) Motivational interviewing (MI) is a psychosocial intervention described by its developers as, "a directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence". Findings in studies by Hettema, Steele, and Miller were particularly noteworthy. First, the effect sizes for MI tended to be larger in studies conducted with primarily ethnic minority samples. Second, a trend existed indicating that effect sizes were significantly lower in studies that used a manual-guided version of MI, suggesting that clinicians may deliver the treatment more effectively when they are free to act in accordance with their own and the client's individual differences. Third, MI seems to work particularly well with most addictive behaviors with the exception of tobacco use, which had low overall effect sizes. More recent research in the use of MI for smoking cessation, however, has produced some promising preliminary results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)