Motivational Interviewing and Patient Engagement

Rebecca Lang EdD, RDH, MCHES

Why don’t patients follow our home care instructions?

It is often frustrating for the dental professional to spend time on patient education to find out that the patient did not follow through with instructions. How the dental professional talks with the patient about their health influences their intrinsic motivation for change.

Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based approach that seeks to engage and activate patients in their own health. Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative, goal-oriented method of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen an individual’s motivation for and movement toward a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own arguments for change.

The overall goal of this course is to provide information on motivational interviewing and behavior change.

Participants will learn:

• Key principles of motivational interviewing.
• How to provide information and advice effectively.
• How to build intrinsic motivation for change.