Brief motivational interventions for adolescent health promotion in clinical settings

(from the chapter) This chapter examines brief motivational interventions for adolescent health promotion in clinical settings. Brief interventions (BI) and motivational interviewing (MI) are techniques that lend themselves well to the adolescent clinic visit. The data suggest that BI and MI can be valuable tools in a clinician's arsenal to help adolescents change negative health behaviors and promote healthy behaviors. More research is needed on the efficacy of these techniques for other health topics such as drug use, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention, diet, and exercise. We also need to evaluate and research the effectiveness of these techniques in a real-world clinic setting, and how to translate findings into clinically meaningful outcomes. Instead of limiting results and conclusions to statistically significant differences between intervention and control groups, it may be more advantageous to discuss degrees of risk reduction—was alcohol consumption reduced from four drinks a week to one? Was "rare" use of condoms changed to "sometimes" or "often" during sexual intercourse? Translation of scientific findings may increase their integration into adolescent health promotion and health behavioral change in the clinical care setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)