Effectiveness of asynchronous motivational interviewing training for pediatric nurse practitioner students: A...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Communication Skills Training
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• Effective patient-provider communication is vital for healthcare quality and patient behavior change.
• Traditional Motivational Interviewing (MI) training faces barriers like resource intensity and logistical challenges.
• Existing training models often do not ensure long-term competency in MI skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an asynchronous, web-based MI training curriculum.
• To assess the curriculum's effectiveness in enhancing MI skills among pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) students.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach was used with 13 PNP students.
• The curriculum included five deliberate practice exercises on MI techniques.
• Pre- and post-training assessments involved mock interviews coded with the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) tool and qualitative analysis.

Main Results:

• Students showed significant improvement in MI-adherent behaviors and global ratings for empathy and partnership.
• A decrease in MI non-adherent behaviors was observed post-training.
• Qualitative data confirmed enhanced understanding of MI principles and improved patient trust cultivation.

Conclusions:

• The web-based MI training effectively improved MI competencies in PNP students.
• This scalable training offers a viable alternative to traditional, resource-intensive methods.
• Further research with larger samples is recommended to validate long-term clinical impact.