Impact of Small-Group Sessions on Motivational Interviewing Outcomes

Objectives: To assess the impact of integrating motivational interviewing (MI) training on student (1) attitudes, confidence, and perceived competence and (2) measured competence. Method: MI is a patient-centered approach that facilitates communication and health behavior change, essential skills for pharmacy practice. Students were introduced to MI during year 1 and reinforced in a second-year Cardiology module. IRB approval was obtained; students were broken into small groups (5-6 students) and for 4 hours to practice MI skills with a trained facilitator. Students then were assessed in a simulated MI patient encounter using the MITI (modified). Students completed a pre-post survey assessing their attitudes and perceived competence (4 items and 12 items, 6-point Likert-type, Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) and confidence (18 questions, 6-point Likert-type, Very Unconfident to Very Confident). The post-survey also contained retrospective pre-test items (i.e., before Cardiology, how confident ...). Changes were assessed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: Students’ (N 5 44, 100% response rate) pre-post attitudes toward MI significantly improved on 1 item (effectiveness of MI in eliciting behavior changes, p 5 0.024), confidence on 9 items (p,0.05), and perceived competence on 3 items (p,0.05). Retrospective pre-post changes significantly improved on 3 attitude, all confidence, and 9 perceived competence items. The median MITI score was 22.5 (maximum 5 30). Implications: Incorporating additional content on MI was beneficial in reinforcing and improving student perceptions of their MI skills. However, pharmacy students believed that they were more competent in MI prior to the reinforcement than they actually were, indicating the importance of reinforcing curricular content