Training Teen Mothers as Motivational Interviewers: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

When teen mothers do not graduate from high school, they and their children risk a lifetime of negative outcomes. They face major economic and health difficulties, often repeated across generations. To address this growing national concern that particularly impacts Hispanic teen mothers, we began by training young nonprofessional peer mentors in motivational interviewing (MI) to provide one-to-one support for teen mothers. To our knowledge, young non-clinicians have never before been formally evaluated for MI competency. Our preliminary investigation tested whether teen mothers who had succeeded in graduating could use MI effectively in conversations with their peers who had not yet completed high school. The six peer mentors were able to attain basic competency in MI. Some of their demonstrated skills went beyond competency to MI proficiency as measured by the MITI coding system. They also expressed their enthusiasm for the experience. They fully participated in the study protocols and also maintained the spirit of MI throughout the study. These findings are being used to design a training strategy for the peer mentors that can be used in schools and clinics throughout New Mexico. The question we asked was: "Can these young mothers, who have succeeded in graduating from high school, competently use MI to support other teen moms to continue their education?" The answer in this feasibility study was "yes".

Expanding School-Based Motivational Interviewing Through Delivery by Paraprofessional Providers: A Preliminary Scoping Review

“…As such, appealing to paraprofessionals with certain personal or professional qualities (e.g., a background in human services) may yield more effective programming. Similarly, screening potential providers by conducting role plays as part of the interview process, as done by Yahne et al, ( 2014 ), can help detect a natural aptitude or predisposition that is more congruent with MI. This practice might reduce training burdens and, in turn, could increase the effectiveness of task-shifting MI on a larger scale.…”

A feasibility trial of parent HPV vaccine reminders and phone-based motivational interviewing

“…A trained MI coder independent from the study team used the MI Treatment Integrity (MITI) Coding manual 3.1 to assign each interview a score for global ratings and MI techniques [23,24,39]. Particularly, in pilot studies, using one MI coder is typical for MITI scoring [40][41][42][43]. The global ratings capture the holistic performance of the interviewer and reflect evocation, collaboration, autonomy/support, direction and empathy.…”

Steps towards implementing evidence-based screening in family medicine in Ukraine: SWOT-analysis of an approach of multidimensional empowerment

“…Though we followed the recommendations of a manual for MI training [26], we must be aware that participants can self-report increased competencies 3 months after a course, without an objective change in their capabilities [27].…”