Counselor motivational interviewing skills and young adult change talk articulation during brief motivational interventions

The process of eliciting client language toward change (change talk [CT]) is implicated as a causal mechanism in motivational interviewing (MI) and brief motivational interventions (BMI). We investigated the articulation of counselor behaviors and CT during BMI with young men. We coded 149 sessions using the Motivational Interviewing Skill Code and summarized these codes into three counselor categories (MI-consistent [MICO], MI-inconsistent [MIIN], other) and three client categories (CT, counter CT [CCT], follow/neutral [F/N]). We then computed immediate transition frequencies and odds ratios using sequential analysis software. CT was significantly more likely following MICO behaviors, whereas MIIN behaviors only led to CCT and F/N. This strongly supports the use of MI skills to elicit CT during BMI with young men, whose speech also predicted counselor behaviors (particularly CT to MICO and CCT to MIIN). Additional analyses showed that among MICO behaviors, reflective listening may be a particularly powerful technique to elicit CT.