Motivational Interviewing
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Motivational interviewing is a psychological means of treating mental disorders as opposed to the use of medical methods, which endeavors to shift an individual away from a situation of ambivalence or precariousness and in the direction of discovering the motivation to positive decision-making and achieving set goals. William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick formed motivational interviewing as a remedy to the problem of low-motivation towards change. Motivational interviewing is a requirement for progress in Dependence Therapy, and its absence is an obstacle. The confrontation method was a popular approach in addressing lack of motivation in the 1980s where the therapist would state the importance of change, the negative aspects that resulted from lack of change, and coerce the individual to change as an approach to achieve motivation (Hensold, 2018).
Motivational interviewing diverges in that it employs non-confrontational, concerted effort allying the therapist and client to glimmer and instigate motivation. Instead of using an antagonizing and combating approach, the therapist wins the clients and explores their feelings, including their ambivalence concerning change, and motivates the clients. Through motivational interviewing, the therapist assumes the role of a supportive individual, helps the client to make personal choices, and draw conclusions without perceiving external pressures to make decisions (Miller and Rollnick, 2002).
Similar to Humanistic therapy that Carl Rogers created from the 1950s through the 1960s, motivational interviewing is person-centered and bases the thought on the argument that individuals possess innate goodness and value. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the therapist to help the clients in creating their best versions (Madson and Schumacher, 2015).
Case managers and those in health care professions use motivational interviewing as a technique to uncover an individual’s fundamental motivations, which allows the care manager and the client to work together in establishing prudent and attainable goals to ameliorate their health. Motivational interviewing improves client engagement, helps to settle the client's ambivalence, and activates the client in tasks that lead to desirable health results. Studies show that goals that people set for a person do not motivate the individual to reach the targets even if the individual's desire fits them. A case manager or a care professional might label the client as resistant to a particular care plan, partly because the professional has not satisfactorily explored the individual's intrinsic motivation for adjustment. Therefore, motivational interviewing is a powerful tool case managers can use to assist clients in taking the leading position in constructively controlling their long-standing conditions (Payne, 2010).
According to Bershad (2019), a client could benefit in many ways from motivational interviewing techniques used by the community/public health nurse. First, motivational interviewing gives the clients the feeling that the public health nurse is hearing them as they tell their account. Another benefit for the client is the ability to discern options they may have ignored before. Thirdly, motivational interviewing helps the client with a considerable sense of self-assurance that results from the exploration of strengths in prevalence to weaknesses. Last, yet importantly, the fact that the community/public health nurse does not impose the change, the client feels that the change has happened within and that increases the client’s ownership of the progress.
As a registered nurse, I could incorporate motivational interviewing into my practice first through collaboration. I would avoid being argumentative with my client and attempt to reason from the client’s standpoint because the client has a better understanding of their experience than I do. I would also use evocation to incorporate motivational interviewing. That means I would create an internal desire for change from my client. I would thus listen to my client more and talk less to evoke that desire. Finally, I would also use autonomy by placing all of the power on my client by showing respect for my client’s ability to make decisions.