Is It the Best Approach to Behavior Change?

Jorge M. January 26, 2022

0 7 5 minutes read

Here is a basic query coaches ask themselves as they apply their information in the discipline:

How can health, wellness, nutrition, and fitness coaches empower and inspire shoppers to undertake behaviors that assist their long-term health?

In different phrases, how can health coaches apply their expertise and information in order that their shoppers truly really feel more healthy as they progress?

Health conduct science is an method to understanding how a person’s choices and actions, or lack thereof, form their health and wellbeing. It acknowledges psychological, environmental, and social elements that affect and decide health behaviors. Health coaches and associated professions are specialists in utilized conduct change, which is why they’re at all times on the lookout for efficient approaches to encourage conduct change.

Motivational interviewing, infused with the ideas of trauma-informed care, is taken into account by many as an extremely effective approach to behavior change. Motivational interviewing is utilized by client- or patient-facing health professionals, reminiscent of coaches, to create an area to brazenly talk with shoppers and assist them in being energetic leaders of their very own health and wellness journey. Trauma-informed motivational interviewing makes use of the ideas of trauma-informed care and applies them to evidence-based motivational interviewing practices to promote self-efficacy whereas additionally acknowledging the potential results of trauma on how a person thinks and acts.

This article describes trauma-informed motivational interviewing and summarizes the proof of its potential for making a optimistic impression on health conduct change approaches.

What Is the Difference Between Trauma-Informed Motivational Interviewing and Standard Motivational Interviewing?

Motivational interviewing is a communication method utilized by health professionals to create a protected area that fosters shoppers’ company and self-efficacy relating to the if, when, how, and what of change.

Through normal motivational interviewing, coaches generate guiding questions that can enable them to achieve perception into the place their shopper is on the health conduct change continuum. An necessary element of motivational interviewing is aim setting based mostly on deep motivations and a practical have a look at their present limitations and alternatives for health conduct change.

According to the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, “techniques are designed based on a respectful and curious way of being with people that facilitates the natural process of change and honors client autonomy.”

A trauma-informed method acknowledges that, except health professionals are conscious of how trauma and antagonistic occasions have an effect on how a person thinks and acts, in addition to how trauma influences health dangers, they might unknowingly re-traumatize shoppers, even after they consider they’re being respectful and curious. Re-traumatization is any scenario or atmosphere that reminds a person of previous trauma actually or symbolically after which triggers troublesome emotions and reactions related to the authentic trauma.

A trauma-informed motivational interviewing method integrates the trauma-informed care ideas to the motivational interviewing ideas.

The fundamental principles of motivational interviewing are:

Expressing empathy by use of reflective listening
Developing discrepancy between shopper targets and present drawback conduct by use of reflective listening and goal suggestions
Avoiding argumentation by assuming that the shopper is chargeable for the resolution to change
Rolling with resistance slightly than confronting or opposing it
Supporting self-efficacy and optimism for change

The six key principles of a trauma-informed method are:

Safety: Clients ought to really feel bodily and psychologically protected in the teaching atmosphere.
Trustworthiness and transparency: Coaches are clear about how they make choices and what they’ll do with the info collected. The aim is to construct and preserve belief with shoppers.
Peer Support: Provide or recommend alternatives for shoppers to hunt down peer assist and mutual self-help.
Collaboration and Mutuality: Recognize that there are energy variations between shopper and health skilled that society has set forth and work to degree these energy variations.
Empowerment, Voice, and Choice: Individuals’ strengths and experiences are acknowledged and constructed upon, and the how, when, what, and why of the companies coaches provide intention to foster empowerment and self-advocacy expertise of shoppers. “Clients are supported in shared decision-making, choice, and goal setting to determine the plan of action they need to heal and move forward.”
Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues: Coaches acknowledge and actively transfer previous stereotypes and biases and incorporate insurance policies, protocols, and processes which might be responsive to the wants of people served.

In brief, a trauma-informed motivational interviewing method infuses the ideas of a trauma-informed method into the motivational interviewing method.

Is Trauma-Informed Motivational Interviewing an Effective Approach to Health Behavior Change?

Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based model of communication that helps to promote health conduct change. Studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in coaching, nursing, pediatrics, dentistry, mental health treatment, and health education.

Researchers and clinicians have highlighted how a motivational interviewing framework and the expertise it cultivates can be utilized in a trauma-informed teaching method.

In reality, the unification of trauma-informed care and motivational interviewing principles “create a climate of safety and trust, and effectively elicit and strengthen clients’ motivation for change.”

Subtle But Important Differences Between a Trauma-Informed Vs. Non-Trauma-Informed Motivational Interviewing Approach

A person well-versed in motivational interviewing however unaware of how trauma is perhaps affecting a person’s health, wellbeing, mentality, and growth might provide info or ask questions which might be seemingly respectful however might make the shopper uncomfortable, possibly even reliving traumatic experiences.

A non-trauma-informed motivational interviewing method might:

Ask about circumstances the shopper isn’t snug sharing
Overlook social determinants of health
Use triggering or judgmental language
Ignore cultural, historic, and gender points which have an affect on the shopper’s approach of speaking and what they really feel snug talking about, values and decision-making course of, and others.

The values of a trauma-informed method assist to fill gaps in motivational interviewing to serve individuals who have skilled trauma. The material and targets addressed in each trauma-informed and non-trauma-informed motivational interviewing could also be the identical, however how health professionals ask the questions might differ.

For instance, a motivational interviewing method that isn’t trauma-informed might phrase a query as a press release or command:

“So you mentioned that you didn’t have a good experience with your previous health coach. I’m sorry about that. Tell me about it.”

While the health coach is expressing empathy and seeming respectful, the info the coach would really like to achieve entry to (what occurred that made the shopper really feel like they didn’t have a superb expertise) is phrased as a requirement. This doesn’t promote a way of selection or acknowledge that the shopper might not really feel snug or protected to discuss it.

Instead, a trauma-informed model of the earlier query could also be:

“In your previous response, you mentioned that, overall, you didn’t have a good experience with your health coach. That must have been hard, and I’m sorry. Would you feel comfortable telling me why you feel that way? The information will help me respect your needs and avoid repeating the same mistakes.”

While each communications intention to hear the identical info from the shopper, the second response helps to foster security and a way of selection whereas additionally speaking transparency as to why the info is perhaps related.

Main Takeaways

Trauma-informed motivational interviewing is a device for building an genuine connection together with your shopper, understanding their circumstances and mind-set, and making a non-judgmental area for vital pondering and problem-solving.

Keep in thoughts, nevertheless, that no single technique is a be-all, end-all method. Even with shoppers that reply constructively to trauma-informed motivational interviewing, it must be paired with different approaches and instruments that you simply see match, which can embody communication methods for transmitting info, aim setting, modeling and studying in motion, and imagining eventualities.

If you need to implement trauma-informed motivational interviewing together with your shoppers, do your greatest to preserve strains of communication open so you may obtain suggestions on how they’re feeling with their progress, how one can enhance, and whether or not or not they really feel trauma-informed motivational interviewing is an efficient device for them.