Teaching brief motivational interviewing to medical students using a pedagogical framework

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Behavioral Science
• Primary Healthcare

Background:

• Medical schools aim to equip students with skills for behavior change counseling.
• Brief motivational interviewing (MI) is crucial for primary healthcare interactions.
• Effective pedagogical frameworks are needed to teach MI to medical students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching brief MI to pre-clinical medical students.
• To assess the impact of a specific pedagogical framework on MI acquisition.
• To determine the sustainability of MI knowledge, confidence, and skills.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 46 pre-clinical medical students participated in an intervention.
• The intervention utilized the Learn, See, Practice, Prove, Do, Maintain framework.
• MI knowledge, confidence, and skills were measured at baseline, post-training, and 3-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Students demonstrated significant improvements in MI knowledge and confidence post-training.
• Gains in knowledge and confidence were maintained at the 3-month follow-up.
• Brief MI skills showed improvement throughout simulated patient encounters.

Conclusions:

• Pre-clinical medical students can effectively acquire and retain MI knowledge, confidence, and skills.
• A short, evidence-based intervention can successfully enhance MI competency.
• Improvements in MI skills are sustainable, supporting their integration into medical curricula.