The Eat for Life (EFL) program tested the use of the telephone in reaching and retaining about 1,000 African Americans in a nutrition intervention over a one-year period. In addition to a cue call to use self-help materials, three telephone calls based on motivational interviewing (MI) were administered to a subsample of participants. MI is a counseling technique developed from research with addictive behaviors (Rollnick & Miller, 1991), but this is the first study, to date, that utilized MI for changing dietary behaviors. There are five principles that comprise MI, namely: express empathy (atmosphere of acceptance); develop discrepancy (between where the client is and where they want to be); avoid argumentation; roll with resistance; and support self-efficacy. One major difference between traditional cognitive-behavioral counseling techniques and MI is that clients are not provided unsolicited advice. Results indicate that more than 82% of participants completed each of four calls evenly spaced over a one-year period. The best time for reaching participants by telephone was midweek, after six in the evening. Roughly half of participants were reached within the first three call attempts and three fourths were reached with eight attempts. A general linear model revealed that age, gender, education and income were not predictive of call completion. While most studies of African Americans comprise mainly the low-income segment, EFL participants were from all income levels. It is therefore feasible to deliver an effective telephone nutrition intervention based on MI to African Americans from the entire range of the socioeconomic strata.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be be able to: 1. Describe motivational interviewing techniques 2. Assess the feasibility of using motivational interviewing via telephone as cost-effective and available to the majority of people across socioeconomic levels 3. Apply motivational interviewing to counseling clients in place of less effective traditional counseling of telling clients what to do
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.