Robert Scales, Ph.D., is Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) & Wellness at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is also a volunteer Clinical Professor in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University, where he is on the advisory board for the Motivational Interviewing (MI) Teaching Laboratories.
He was the Principal Investigator in the Cardiovascular Health Initiative and Lifestyle Education (CHILE) Study, the first study to investigate the impact of MI and skills-based counseling on the behaviors of patients attending CR. More recently he was the Lead Consultant on an NIH funded grant to investigate methods of teaching MI in a physical therapy academic program.
He has counseled thousands of patients who were recovering from heart disease and related medical conditions. He is an experienced trainer in MI and he has trained both students and clinicians from a variety of healthcare disciplines to use the approach within their own clinical settings. Adaptations of his work have focused on teaching MI to healthcare professionals within diabetes prevention in Native American communities, Primary Care and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
