Motivational Interviewing training tools: A research study

In homeless services, most training is delivered in "one shot" with limited or little follow-up. Research suggests that, without follow-up, much of the information is forgotten as early as three months after trainings. In the case of Motivational Interviewing (MI) practitioners must have opportunities to practice and receive feedback soon after training or the skills will be lost.

In response to this need for refresher or "booster" training, the National Institute of Mental Health awarded the Center for Social Innovation a Phase 1 Small Business Innovative Research Grant to create and evaluate a MI Simulator and EBook. The Simulator pairs practitioners with a partner to practice their skills in a variety of scenarios and includes feedback and opportunities to debrief. The EBook is an interactive tool that provides background information, examples of good and poor MI techniques, and quizzes.

This session will briefly discuss the basic concepts of MI, the tools that were created, and preliminary outcomes from the study. The session will primarily focus on the components of the research design and lessons learned from this pilot study. Specific issues for discussion include recruitment, the use of the Helpful Responses Questionnaire (HRQ) in the pre test, and coding recorded sessions with actors with the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) code to assess MI skills.