n CME : Your SA Journal of CPD - Motivating behaviour change in the diabetic patient : main topic

Abstract

Brief motivational interviewing (BMI) is an approach to behaviour change which provides GPs with a broader range of communication skills that are tailored to the individual patient's readiness to change. General principles of BMI are: <ul>The doctor-patient relationship is a partnership more than an expert-recipient relationship</ul> <ul>Readiness to change is not a patient trait, but a fluctuating product of interpersonal interaction</ul> <ul>It is the patient's task, and not the doctor's, to articulate and resolve ambivalence</ul> <ul>The doctor is directive in helping the patient respond constructively to ambivalence</ul> <ul>Direct persuasion and argument from the doctor is not an effective method to resolve ambivalence</ul> <ul>The counselling style is generally a quiet and eliciting one. &lt;/ul&gt;