The check-up: in-person, computerized, and telephone adaptations of motivational enhancement treatment to elicit voluntary participation by the contemplator

Abstract

Countless barriers come between people who are struggling with substance abuse and those charged with providing substance abuse treatment. The check-up, a form of motivational enhancement therapy, is a harm reduction intervention that offers a manner of supporting individuals by lowering specific barriers to reaching those who are untreated. The check-up was originally developed to reach problem drinkers who were neither seeking treatment nor selfinitiating change. The intervention, marketed as an opportunity to take stock of one's experiences, involves an assessment and personalized feedback delivered with a counseling style termed motivational interviewing. Check-ups can be offered in care settings to individuals who, as a result of screening, manifest risk factors for specific disorders such as alcoholism. They can also be freestanding and publicized widely to the general public. This paper will discuss illustrations of inperson, computerized, in-school, and telephone applications of the free-standing type of check-up with reference to alcohol consumers, adult and adolescent marijuana smokers, and gay/bisexual males at risk for sexual transmission of HIV. The paper's major focus is to highlight how unique features of each application have the potential of reducing barriers to reaching specific at-risk populations. Also considered are key policy issues such as how check-up services can be funded, which venues are appropriate for the delivery of check-up interventions, pertinent competency criteria in evaluating staff who deliver this intervention, how marketing can be designed to reach contemplators in untreated at-risk populations, and how a check-up's success ought to be defined.

Motivational tools to improve probationer treatment outcomes

“…Some evidence suggests that adding MI components to the beginning of a treatment sequence increases treatment effects [19, 36–39]. In addition, when MI is used alongside personalized feedback, individuals respond more positively to treatment seeking and readiness (see the “Check-Up” format discussed by [40]). These personalized feedback reports typically include information from the client’s baseline assessment, such as a comparison to population norms, identification of risk factors, and perceived or experienced negative consequences of the behavior [40,41].…”

Telemedicine-based alcohol services for rural offenders.

“…The computerized version of the DCU has been shown to perform similarly to the face-to-face version of the DCU in assessing drinking behavior and drinking risk (Walker, Roffman, Picciano, & Stephens, 2007). The initial telemedicine session (or Session 2) also included a review of the DCU to discuss the assessment to provide feedback about a participant’s risk behaviors and to determine if there were any particular areas of concern that he or she would like to discuss during the sessions.…”

Motivational Interviewing support for a behavioral health internet intervention for drivers with type 1 diabetes

“…MI is promising when delivered over the telephone for 1-2 sessions (Aharonovich et al, 2012; Bennett, Young, Nail, Winters-Stone, & Hanson, 2008; Cook, McCabe, Emiliozzi, & Pointer, 2009; Farrell-Carnahan et al, 2013; Walker, Roffman, Picciano, & Stephens, 2007). Telephone delivery is important in Internet-delivered interventions, because participants from wide geographic areas may enroll, making face to face sessions impractical if not impossible.…”