Motivational Interviewing as a Pedagogical Approach in Behavioral Science Education: “Walking the Talk”

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based approach to facilitating behavior change. This approach has been applied in multiple settings (e.g., healthcare, drug and alcohol treatment, psychotherapy, health and wellness coaching, etc.). This article applies MI in a pedagogical context with medical residents as a semi-directive, learner-centered teaching style for eliciting clinical behavior change. Herein we present the foundational theories that inform this approach, describe the process of teaching, address barriers and challenges, and conclude with a review of performance to date including residents' narrative accounts of their experience with the curriculum.