Student-Perceived Quality of Motivational Interviewing Training: A Factor-Analytic Study

Abstract

A B S T R A C T Objective: This study developed and tested a student-report measure of motivational interviewing (MI) teaching quality called the Evaluation of Motivational Interviewing Teaching (EMIT) scale. Method: Social work students (N 5 297) receiving course content on motivational interviewing completed the EMIT, and exploratory factor analysis investigated whether theory-based dimensions of teaching emerged as EMIT subscales, including: interactivity/skill building, MI content coverage, modeling MI during teaching, trainee autonomy violation, and encouraging ongoing training in MI. Results: Two subscales emerged representing MIconsistent (28 items, a 5 .92) and MI-inconsistent teaching practices (7 items, a 5 .73). Conclusions: Although more research is needed on the EMIT, this study supports the initial reliability of the instrument and can help social work educators evaluate MI teaching quality. K E Y W O R D S : motivational interviewing, teaching, evidence-based practice, factor analysis

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Two Methods to Improve Motivational Interviewing Training

“…Students have demonstrated some significant MI skill gains via a 2-day training (Pecukonis et al, 2016), a 1-week intensive course (Madson et al, 2013), or over the course of a semester (Hohman et al, 2015; Madson et al, 2013). As a practice grounded in science, consistent with social work values, and improvable with just one semester of learning, MI is highly promising for greater integration into social work education (Hohman et al, 2015; Pecukonis et al, 2016; Smith, Hohman, Wahab, & Manthey, 2017; Tennille, 2014). Determining optimal ways to train students in MI has much value for future health and human service professionals.…”