The Promise of Motivational Interviewing in School Mental Health

Abstract

In recent years, the science of developing and implementing interventions addressing school-related risk factors has produced many advances. This article addresses the promise of a cross-disciplinary practice approach known as motivational interviewing in school settings. Specifically, the supporting evidence as well as the process and principles of motivational interviewing are described for those unfamiliar with motivational interviewing nomenclature. A description of recent school-based innovations using the principles of motivational interviewing is then provided. Next, some potential applications for applying the motivational interviewing approach in educational settings to enhance the adoption, development, and implementation of effective school-based interventions designed to promote academic achievement and prevent or ameliorate challenging behavior are proposed. The article concludes with a discussion of future directions of motivational interviewing approaches within the context of school mental health.

Implementation Science in School Mental Health: Key Constructs in a Developing Research Agenda

“…There is a large theoretical literature on behavior change (e.g., theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, social-cognitive theory) that is critical to understanding individual-level drivers of provider skill uptake (e.g., Ajzen, 1991; Bandura, 1977). There also is emerging evidence that incorporating motivational interviewing techniques into coaching may enhance teacher motivation and confidence related to implementation of classroom behavior management interventions (Frey et al, 2011; Reinke et al, 2012). Lastly, marketing research techniques have been used to group education professionals on the basis of the program and implementation attributes (e.g., cost, effectiveness, choice) by which they are most influenced when deciding to implement an EBP (Cunningham et al, 2009).…”

Rethinking Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Care: The Importance of Integrated Interventions for Suicidal Youth With Substance Use Problems

“…Social workers are well positioned to deliver such integrated interventions on adolescent inpatient units, as they frequently serve as clinicians in these facilities. Using MI as an integrative intervention is promising due to the inherent flexibility of the MI approach, and is supported by recent work demonstrating MI as useful intervention for social workers in school settings (Frey et al, 2011). …”

Learning to change: the rationale for the use of motivational interviewing in higher education

“…several writers (Frey, Lee, small, seeley, & Feil, 2013;Reinke, Herman, & sprick, 2011;sheldon, 2010;shepard, Herman, Reinke, & Frey, 2014) have outlined use of MI in education. Current research supporting the use of MI in schools includes: school mental health (Frey, Cloud, Lee, small, & seeley, 2011), special education (Manthey, 2011), disengaged primary age children (Atkinson & Cryer, 2015), at risk students (Hadraba, 2011;Kittles & Atkinson, 2009), truancy (Enea & dafinoiu, 2009) and academic performance (strait, smith, McQuillin, & Terry, 2012;Terry, smith, strait, & McQuillin, 2013).…”