A motivational interviewing education intervention for home healthcare nurses

The ability of registered nurses to communicate well with their patients is foundational to patient-centered care, the management of chronic illness, and general healthcare. It is also vital to the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses, however, tend to identify with their patients' physical needs and rely heavily on the technical skills with which they feel more comfortable. This lack of ability to communicate well with their patients can result in poor nurse-patient understanding, can lead to poor patient outcomes, and a lack of patient engagement and involvement in their care. Motivational interviewing (MI), a patient-centered manner of communication, is a means to direct the nurse-patient interaction in a way that is patient centered. Brief education of MI has shown to be effective in increasing the self-efficacy of nurses in their ability to communicate well with their patients. In 2 geographically diverse Pennsylvania home care settings, MI education was provided to 20 nurses. The educational intervention was designed to increase the self-efficacy of nurses regarding their ability to affect the negative behaviors of chronically ill patients. A pretest and posttest was administered to the nurse participants to determine the effectiveness of the educational intervention. This evidence-based education increased the nurses' overall communication self-efficacy by 25%.