A pilot test of motivational interviewing groups for dually diagnosed inpatients

Notes that motivational interviewing (MI) is a brief treatment approach designed to produce rapid, internally motivated change in addictive behaviors. It is argued that motivational interviewing shows promise for engaging clients with dual psychiatric and psychoactive substance use diagnoses in treatment. The authors contend that while MI was initially developed as an individual treatment approach, key motivational enhancement principles may be applied to structured group interventions to facilitate its introduction to inpatient dual-diagnosis treatment. This paper describes the development and pilot-testing of a MI group for 304 dually-diagnosed inpatients (aged 17–62 yrs), and illustrates successes and pitfalls in clinical implementation. The authors assert that group participants were readily engaged by the entertaining format and often provocative content, and appeared to benefit from exploration of their ambivalence regarding change. Directions for further development and evaluation are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)