Psychometric properties of the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity coding system 4.2 with jail inmates.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based approach shown to be helpful for a variety of behaviors across many populations. Treatment fidelity is an important tool for understanding how and with whom MI may be most helpful. The Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity coding system was recently updated to incorporate new developments in the research and theory of MI, including the relational and technical hypotheses of MI (MITI 4.2). To date, no studies have examined the MITI 4.2 with forensic populations. In this project, twenty-two brief MI interventions with jail inmates were evaluated to test the reliability of the MITI 4.2. Validity of the instrument was explored using regression models to examine the associations between global scores (Empathy, Partnership, Cultivating Change Talk and Softening Sustain Talk) and outcomes. Reliability of this coding system with these data was strong. We found that therapists had lower ratings of Empathy with participants who had more extensive criminal histories. Both Relational and Technical global scores were associated with criminal histories as well as post-intervention ratings of motivation to decrease drug use. Findings indicate that the MITI 4.2 was reliable for coding sessions with jail inmates. Additionally, results provided information related to the relational and technical hypotheses of MI. Future studies can use the MITI 4.2 to better understand the mechanisms behind how MI works with this high-risk group.

How to Measure Motivational Interviewing Fidelity in Randomized Controlled Trials: Practical Recommendations.

Many randomized controlled trials in which motivational interviewing (MI) is a key intervention make no provision for the assessment of treatment fidelity. This methodological shortcoming makes it impossible to distinguish between high- and low-quality MI interventions, and, consequently, to know whether MI provision has contributed to any intervention effects. This article makes some practical recommendations for the collection, selection, coding and reporting of MI fidelity data, as measured using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code. We hope that researchers will consider these recommendations and include MI fidelity measures in future studies.

More than reflections: empathy in motivational interviewing includes language style synchrony between therapist and client.

Empathy is a basic psychological process that involves the development of synchrony in dyads. It is also a foundational ingredient in specific, evidence-based behavioral treatments like motivational interviewing (MI). Ratings of therapist empathy typically rely on a gestalt, "felt sense" of therapist understanding and the presence of specific verbal behaviors like reflective listening. These ratings do not provide a direct test of psychological processes like behavioral synchrony that are theorized to be an important component of empathy in psychotherapy. To explore a new objective indicator of empathy, we hypothesized that synchrony in language style (i.e., matching how statements are phrased) between client and therapists would predict gestalt ratings of empathy over and above the contribution of reflections. We analyzed 122 MI transcripts with high and low empathy ratings based on the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity global rating scale. Linguistic inquiry and word count was used to estimate language style synchrony (LSS) of adjacent client and therapist talk turns. High-empathy sessions showed greater LSS across 11 language style categories compared with low-empathy sessions (p<.01), and overall, average LSS was notably higher in high-empathy versus low-empathy sessions (d=0.62). Regression analyses showed that LSS was predictive of empathy ratings over and above reflection counts; a 1 SD increase in LSS is associated with a 2.4 times increase in the odds of a high-empathy rating, controlling for therapist reflections (odds ratio=2.4; 95% CI: 1.36; 4.24, p<.01). These findings suggest empathy ratings are related to synchrony in language style, over and above synchrony of content as measured by therapist reflections. Novel indicators of therapist empathy may have implications for the study of MI process as well as the training of therapists.

Teaching practice and assessment of motivational interviewing curriculum for medical school students / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Objective To explore the necessity and effect of the motivational interviewing/MIcurriculum in medical school students. Methods Helping smoking cessation in standard patients with coronary heart disease was assumed as the expected goal. MI was carried out for medical school students to master basal knowledge and skills of MI and help using MI methods in persuading smoking quitting. The teaching mode of MI curriculum was comprised of a lecture series and small group dis-cussion with videotaped practice in role plays. Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) scoring tool was applied to assess the teaching effect of MI curriculum with students' performance videotapes. Questionnaire was used to evaluate the quality and efficacy of the MI curriculum, and SPSS 13.0 was used to t test measurement data. Results Analysis of the MITI scores showed students had general mastery of MI knowledge. Nevertheless, they did not reach recommended professional profi-ciency level. The scores of empathy and MI spirit in global ratings were (4.11 ±0.32) and (5.82 ± 0.17), respectively (recommended level, 6 score). In the videotape evaluation of behavior counts, MI adherentreached (70.96%±24.34%) (recommended level, 90%). Open question reached (31.42%±8.51%) (recommended level, 70%). Total refection counts were (7.84±3.22) counts per video (recom-mended level, 10). The standard questions recommended in MI for behavior change were better used by students. 93.75%and 87.50%students used ranking questions to evaluate the importance and con-fidence of smoking quitting. Nevertheless, the exploration questions about importance and confidence were less used to know the reason behind their ranking . The results of questionnaire showed that 83.33%students felt MI curriculum effective to help them improve confidence and skills in counseling with patients. 97.91%students thought the mastery of MI methods as an important skill for physicians to have. Conclusion The teaching practice of MI curriculum in medical school students is necessary and feasible with good teaching results. It is worth for professional counseling regarding unhealthy be-havior change in patients.

Should we trust our judgments about the proficiency of Motivational Interviewing counselors? A glimpse at the impact of low inter-rater reliability.

Standardized rating systems are often used to evaluate the proficiency of Motivational Interviewing (MI) counselors. The published inter-rater reliability (degree of coder agreement) in many studies using these instruments has varied a great deal; some studies report MI proficiency scores that have only fair inter-rater reliability, and others report scores with excellent reliability. How much can we to trust the scores with fair versus excellent reliability? Using a Monte Carlo statistical simulation, we compared the impact of fair (0.50) versus excellent (0.90) reliability on the error rates of falsely judging a given counselor as MI proficient or not proficient. We found that improving the inter-rater reliability of any given score from 0.5 to 0.9 would cause a marked reduction in proficiency judgment errors, a reduction that in some MI evaluation situations would be critical. We discuss some practical tradeoffs inherent in various MI evaluation situations, and offer suggestions for applying findings from formal MI research to problems faced by real-world MI evaluators, to help them minimize the MI proficiency judgment errors bearing the greatest cost.