Within-session changes in therapist and client behaviors during an alcohol brief motivational intervention for young men

Abstract

See, stats, and : http : / / www . researchgate . net / publication / 279980256 Within - session behaviors intervention CONFERENCE DOI : 10 . 1186 / 1940 - 0640 - 8 - S1 - A30 READS 6 6 , INCLUDING : Molly Brown 42 SEE Richard Brown 186 , 595 SEE Nicolas University 47 SEE Gerhard University 328 , 317 SEE Available : Nicolas Retrieved : 24 Brief motivational intervention (BMI) has shown promis - ing results among young adults , but its underlying mechanisms are seldom investigated . Analyzing the dynamic processes of therapist and client behaviors throughout the session might help to better understand mechanisms operative during BMI . We used data from a BMI randomized controlled trial for heavy drinking among non - treatment seeking Swiss young men . The par - ent study found significantly lowered drinking in the BMI group (N=179) compared to a control group receiving no intervention (N=182) 3 months later . In the present study , we conducted psycholinguistic coding of 174 BMI using the Motivational Interviewing (MI) Skill Code (MISC 2 . 1 ; Miller et al . 2008) and then divided the sessions in thirds to examine within - session processes across time . Alcohol outcome was dichotomized into a " changers " group (base - line to 3 - month difference greater than the mean of the control group) and a " non - changers " group . We then tested for interactions between time (thirds) and outcome group in GEE models accounting for within - person corre - lations across repeated (time) measures . Interactions were not significant for therapist frequency of MI - consistent behaviors , percent of open questions , and ratio of reflec - tions to questions , but were significant for the frequency of MI - inconsistent behaviors (MIIN) and the percent of therapist reflections that were complex . Regarding client change talk , interactions were significant only for commit - ment to change . Findings indicated that there were dynamic processes at play during our BMI which were related to bet - ter alcohol outcomes . Specifically , the presence of MIIN in the beginning of a BMI appeared to be related to poor out - comes while an increase in complex reflections was related to good outcomes . As in prior MI process research , com - mitment to change strength was related to outcomes , but here the difference came from non - changers increasing their commitment not to change rather than from changers increasing their commitment to change .