[Is the individual motivational interviewing effective in overweight and obesity treatment? A systematic review]

To analyze the effectiveness of individual motivational interviewing (MI) in the ambulatory treatment of the overweight and obese.

The protocol of this systematic review is registered in PROSPERO N° CDR42017058814.

EBSCO-CINAHL, Pubmed, Scielo, PsycoINFO from 2010 to 2017.

We included studies with overweight and obese adult participants, randomized trial and case control studies, with MI being applied individually and face to face, with primary or secondary results in changes in body composition (weight or BMI), published in English or Spanish, with available text and in peer-reviewed journals.

We obtained anthropometric, behavioral, psychosocial, and other variables as effects of MI. In addition, we collected descriptive variables of the interventions.

Eleven articles were included in this revision. There is a great variability between the studies in terms of population, kind of intervention, and time of follow-up. In most of them, some effect was observed in reducing bodyweight, reaching a maximum of 7kg in the group that received the MI. There are positive variations in psychosocial and metabolic variables in the studies.

Individual MI interventions have a modest effect on the variation of bodyweight, and could have a positive impact on behavioral, psychosocial, and other variables. More studies are needed to elucidate the best form of MI application with regard to effectiveness on different variables. The primary healthcare system is in an advantageous position for generating fruitful research on this motivational strategy.