Review of the integrity of a Self Administered Motivational Instrument

BACKGROUND: Motivational interviewing (MI) was developed by Miller and Rollnick as an evidence-based counselling approach for use in supporting people with alcohol problems. Over the years the principles and spirit of MI have been reviewed and fine-tuned and the approach has been embraced by practitioners worldwide and across fields. Since 2001 a number of instruments have been designed to evaluate the fidelity of MI practice. For the purposes of this study, one such instrument is used to assess a self-administered motivational instrument, known as the SAMI, which takes the interviewer role.

OBJECTIVES: The SAMI is evaluated against the MITI 3.1.1, which is designed to assess the extent to which MI interventions perform on five global dimensions. These are evocation, collaboration, autonomy/support, direction and empathy.

DESIGN: The SAMI was assembled based on the principles and spirit of MI, problem solving and goal-setting. The targeted behaviour changes were student learning styles and approaches to study.

SETTING: The SAMI was distributed, completed and submitted electronically via the university virtual learning environment.

PARTICIPANTS: Thirty three mature students of a university which delivered online nursing programme were invited to complete the SAMI. Of these, 25 submitted completed transcripts.

METHODS: Transcripts of a sample of six completed SAMIs were assessed by a group of teachers and researchers with experience in the use and evaluation of MI, using five-point Likert scales to assess the SAMI on the five dimensions.

RESULTS: Overall, an average score exceeding 4.5 was attained across the five dimensions. Conventionally, such a score is recognised as competency in MI. However, on one dimension (empathy), the rating was three.

CONCLUSIONS: This current research confirms that global principles have been observed in the online delivery of MI using the SAMI to probe approaches to study.