2. History
• Developed by Miller and Rollnick, 1991
• Started by examining what worked with substance
abuse clients
• Represented a different approach from past models
• Has broad utility beyond substance abuse
counseling
3. Background
• MI has client-centered elements but departs from a
pure Rogerian approach.
• It is non-judgemental, non-confrontational, and non-
adversarial.
• It is semi-directive
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4. Four Principles of MI
• Express empathy
• Develop discrepancy
• Roll with resistance
• Support self-efficacy
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5. Four Principles of MI
• Express empathy
– It sounds like you are very frustrated by your BIO 141 class.
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6. Four Principles of MI
• Develop discrepancy
– On one hand you want to just drop BIO 141, but you know
that you need it to get into the ADN program.
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7. Four Principles of MI
• Roll with resistance
– You don’t think that talking to your professor about your
difficulty in BIO 141 would make any difference.
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8. Four Principles of MI
• Support self-efficacy
– It sounds like you have skills that have been helpful in
other classes that may help you succeed in BIO 141
despite the challenges.
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9. Four Key Strategies
• Open-Ended Questions
• Affirm
• Reflective Listening
• Summarize
• This can be remembered by using the pneumonic
“OARS.”
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10. Four Key Strategies
• Open-Ended Questions
– Examples:
– So what do you think you’ll do?
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11. Four Key Strategies
• Affirm
– It sounds like your education is very important to you, but
you need help figuring out the process of enrolling in
college.
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12. Four Key Strategies
• Reflective Listening
– It sounds like you aren’t ready to pick a program of study
yet.
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13. Four Key Strategies
• Summarize
– So if I am hearing you correctly, after last semester you
think you may not be in the right major.
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14. Four Key Strategies
• This can be remembered by using the pneumonic
“OARS.”
– Open-ended questions
– Affirming statements
– Reflective Listening
– Summarize the conversation
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15. Applications
Covers a range of areas, including:
• Alcohol and drug use
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Diet and exercise
• Academic Setting
http://www.motivationalinterview.org/quick_links/mult
imedia.html
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16. Applications
Using MI in Higher Education
• Advising
• Admissions Counseling
• ADA Advising
• Parent Interactions
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17. Demonstration
• A student comes to the counselor to discuss their
class schedule for their first semester at a community
college. They express interest in a STEM related
Associates Degree, but they say they hate math, and
really feel they shouldn’t have to take
developmental math. Their placement test score
shows they need to take MTT 4.
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