Syllabus

Master of Social Work

SSWO 652 – Motivational Interviewing

Credits - 3

Description

Motivational Interviewing is a way of collaborating with clients empathetically and in a person-centered way that helps clients to find their own motivations for change. In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of motivational interviewing and will have the opportunity to practice intensively within the context of any helping profession. Students will learn core principles of motivational interviewing including expressing empathy and dancing with discord, developing discrepancy, and supporting self-efficacy. We will explore enhancing strategies for promoting individual change in primary healthcare settings and the use of motivational interviewing in achieving better health outcomes.

 

 

 

 

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

School of Social Work Program Outcomes:

Graduates of the UNE SSWO will demonstrate knowledge, skills, and leadership in the following:

1. Demonstrates ethical and professional behavior.
2. Advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.
3. Engage in anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) in practice.
4. Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice.
5. Engage in policy practice.
6. Engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
7. Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
8. Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
9. Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Course Objectives

Through the completion of their assignments, students will demonstrate their ability to:

1. Apply self-awareness and self-regulation to manage the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse clients. (EPAS 1) 
2. Utilize Motivational Interviewing skills with diverse clients, communicating the clients’ perspectives of their lives and situations. (EPAS 3, 6, 7, 8)
3. Engage clients as experts of their own experiences. (EPAS 3)
4. Use and translate research evidence on Motivational Interviewing in a specific setting/population to inform and improve practice, policy, and service delivery. (EPAS 4)
5. Use empathy, reflection, and other Motivational Interviewing skills to effectively engage diverse clients and constituencies. (EPAS 6)
6. Demonstrate ability to set an agenda/focus with a client to determine target behaviors. (EPAS 8)
7. Reinforce and evoke change talk from clients regarding the identified target behavior, guiding clients toward change. (EPAS 8)
8. Select appropriate intervention strategies/plans based on the client’s needs, wants, and goals. (EPAS 8)
9. Critically analyze, monitor, and evaluate the MI interventions by using an evidence based fidelity measure. (EPAS 9)

IPEC Competencies:

Values and Ethics: Work with team members to maintain a climate of shared values, ethical conduct, and mutual respect.

Promote the values and interests of persons and populations in healthcare delivery, One Health, and population health initiatives (VE1)
Uphold the dignity, privacy, identity, and autonomy of persons while maintaining confidentiality in the delivery of team-based care (VE3)
Value the expertise of health professionals and its impacts on team functions and health outcomes.(VE5)
Collaborate with honesty and integrity while striving for health equity and improvements in health outcomes. (VE6)
Practice trust, empathy, respect, and compassion with persons, caregivers, health professionals, and populations (VE7)
Apply high standards of ethical conduct and quality in contributions to team-based care. (VE8)
Maintain competence in one’s own profession in order to contribute to interprofessional care. (VE9)
Contribute to a just culture that fosters self-fulfillment, collegiality, and civility across the team. (VE10)
Roles and Responsibilities: Use the knowledge of one’s own role and team members’ expertise to address individual and population health outcomes.

Include the full scope of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of team members to provide care that is person-centered, safe, cost-effective, timely, efficient, effective, and equitable. (RR1) 
Collaborate with others within and outside of the health system to improve health outcomes. (RR2)
Differentiate each team member’s role, scope of practice, and responsibility in promoting health outcomes. (RR4)
Practice cultural humility in interprofessional teamwork. (RR5)

Communication: Communicate in a responsive, responsible, respectful, and compassionate manner with team members.

Communicate one’s roles and responsibilities clearly. (C1) 
Use communication tools, techniques, and technologies to enhance team function, well-being, and health outcomes. (C2) 
Communicate clearly with authenticity and cultural humility, avoiding discipline-specific terminology. (C3) 
Promote common understanding of shared goals. (C4)
Practice active listening that encourages ideas and opinions of other team members. (C5) 
Use constructive feedback to connect, align, and accomplish team goals. (C6) 

Teams and Teamwork: Apply values and principles of the science of teamwork to adapt one’s own role in a variety of team settings.

Appreciate team members’ diverse experiences, expertise, cultures, positions, power, and roles towards improving team function.  (TT2) 
Practice team reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. (TT3) 
Reflect on self and team performance to inform and improve team effectiveness. (TT6) 
Operate from a shared framework that supports resiliency, well-being, safety, and efficacy. (TT9) 

 

Interprofessional Education (IPE)

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines interprofessional education (IPE) as an experience that “occurs when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other” (WHO, 2010). Interprofessional education is a critical approach for preparing students entering into the healthcare professions, where teamwork and collaboration are important competencies. IPE has been promoted by a number of international health organizations, as part of a redesign of healthcare systems to promote interprofessional teamwork, to enhance the quality of patient care, and improve health outcomes.

Assignments

A variety of learning activities are designed to support the course objectives, facilitate different learning styles, and build a community of learners. Learning activities for each week include reading, podcasts, videos, role play/real play, handouts, self-reflection, and discussions. Your instructor will provide you with feedback on each of the assignments so make sure to check your instructor’s comments, when you receive a notification that something has been graded.

Community of Practice – 10-minute Role Play/Real Play (EPAS 6,7,9), (IPEC: VE1, VE4, VE7, VE9; C1)

You will have the opportunity to practice your Motivational Interviewing skills in a small group setting known as a Community of Practice (CoP) in weeks 2, 4, 6 & 7. In your small CoP group you will be able to coach each other (using MI skills) as well as receive feedback and coaching regarding your own work, all done in the spirit of Motivational Interviewing. Go to your CoP group to review the assignment with the peers you will be working with directly. You will have the opportunity to rotate through the different roles that are part of this activity. One will be the client, another the clinician, another the observer, and the last, the coder, rotating through each role until all have the opportunity to engage in each role. (client, clinician, and observer coders).

Reflective Practice Journals based on podcast (EPAS 1, 6 & 9), (IPEC: VE1, VE4, VE7, VE9; C1)

In weeks 3 and 5, students will select one of the following podcast episodes related to co-occurring disorders and respond to specific journal prompts. 

• Leaning into faith 
• Please listen for the whisper
• Stitching things together 
• Listening from the heart

The Rounder, Part 1 (EPAS 1, 7, 8), (IPEC: VE1, VE4, VE6, VE7; RR3)

This assignment requires you to review a video called the Rounder and answer questions 

The Rounder, Part 2 (EPAS 1, 6, 7, 8) (IPEC: VE1, VE3, VE4, VE7, VE8; RR1, RR3)

In Week 1, you listened to this video through the lens of the overall feel of the conversation. In week 8, you will apply the practice and skills you’ve worked on throughout the course to analyze the conversation, fill out the MI Observation and reflection worksheet and submit the coding document provided.

Discussions (EPAS 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 & 9) (IPEC: VE1, VE3, VE4, VE6, VE7, VE8, VE10; RR1, RR2, RR3; C2, C3, C4, C5; TT2, TT6, TT9)

Discussions will help you dive deeper into the modalities presented throughout this course and learn as a community with your fellow students. You are expected to participate actively and in a respectful manner. Some discussions offer the opportunity to submit video responses. 

 

Grading Policy

The School of Social Work uses the following grading system for all courses with the exception of field education courses. Students are expected to maintain a “B” (3.0) average over the course of their study. Students with less than a GPA of 3.0 will be placed on academic probation. Students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 in order to receive their Master’s Degree.

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Assignment	Point Value
Academic Engagement	1
Introduction Discussion	1
The Rounder, Assignment, Part 1	4
Community of Practice with MI Observation and Reflection Worksheet (4 x 11 points each)	44
Reflective Practice Journals (2 x 5 points each)	10
Discussion Questions (8 X 3 points each)	24
The Rounder Assignment, Part 2	16
Total:	100 points

Grade Scale

Grade	Points Grade	Point Average (GPA)
A	94 – 100%	4.00
A-	90 – 93%	3.75
B+	87 – 89%	3.50
B	84 – 86%	3.00
B-	80 – 83%	2.75
C+	77 – 79%	2.50
C	74 – 76%	2.00
C-	70 – 73%	1.75
D	64 – 69%	1.00
F	00 – 63%	0.00