A randomized controlled trial of behavior change counseling education for medical students

Abstract

Background: Educating medical students about how to effectively counsel patients with negative health behaviors (i.e., lack of exercise, smoking) is vitally important. Behavior change counseling is a promising method that can be used by physicians to encourage positive changes in health behaviors. Purpose: To examine the effectiveness of a 2 h workshop in behavior change counseling for medical students. Methods: This study used a pre-post control group design with 35 second-year medical students who were randomly assigned to participate in a behavior change counseling intervention or wait-list control group. Student knowledge and attitudes were assessed using multiple choice items and open-ended question prompts. Student skills were assessed via performance in a standardized patient encounter rated using the Behavior Change Counseling Index (BECCI). Results: Student attitudes toward behavior change counseling were positive at both pre-and post-test assessment in both groups. Knowledge scores and BECCI total scores showed significantly greater improvement in the intervention group compared to the wait-list control group. Conclusions: This study found that a brief educational intervention had a positive impact on medical students' knowledge and skills in behavior change counseling, and that student attitudes about the counseling method were very positive.

Comparison of Active-Learning Strategies for Motivational Interviewing Skills, Knowledge, and Confidence in First-Year Pharmacy Students

“…5,22,23 Each of these tools is described in detail herein, and copies may be requested from the corresponding author. Raters were paid pharmacists recruited from a pool of evaluators who had previously facilitated or participated in the practice laboratories and practica for the course.…”

“…Student ability was measured using a validated instrument, student knowledge through pretests and posttests, and confidence through survey tools. 5,22,23 This quasi-experimental study used a double-blinded controlled design including both qualitative and quantitative methods. The university's Institutional Review Board approved the research as exempt from full board review, as the risk to participants was none or minimal.…”

Motivational Interviewing Training Using Role Play in Dental Hygiene Students

“…Ryu et al 4) reported that Korean dental hygiene students have a strong Moreover, given similar levels of effects, it was reported that it would be clinically more efficient to employ role-play, given its potential for reducing costs and easy applications. Therefore, role-play practice is often employed in clinical studies as it is easy to apply 8,18) .Given that there have been spotlights on the communication competency training, it is necessary to provide such training at the college level. As such, this study aimed to apply the principle of MI training on dental hygiene, without its application to any other models.…”

“…Ryu et al 4) reported that Korean dental hygiene students have a strong Moreover, given similar levels of effects, it was reported that it would be clinically more efficient to employ role-play, given its potential for reducing costs and easy applications. Therefore, role-play practice is often employed in clinical studies as it is easy to apply 8,18) .…”

“…Bazata et al 6) explained that health education that results in individual behavioral changes does not simply involve providing advice or recommendations. As such, studies have reported the effectiveness of patient-centric education systems to transfer knowledge on oral health management [7][8][9][10] . Motivational interviewing (MI), receiving spotlight in the dental industries, is a counseling method that centers on the interviewee, and has been introduced as a method that utilizes multiple techniques to explore the inner mind of the interviewee and induce behavioral changes 11) .…”