People’s lifestyle and behaviours have an important impact on their health and longevity. However, attempts to persuade patients and service users to change their behaviour often make them feel defensive and uncomfortable. Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based approach that encourages patients to talk themselves into making beneficial changes.

This module explains why motivational interviewing works, and includes short videos that show how it can be used in various clinical scenarios, even when only a few minutes are available. It demonstrates the processes of engaging patients, deciding on what to change, evoking their own reasons for making the change and agreeing a concrete plan.

It takes just over an hour to work through the full module.