Table 1 The menu of strategies in brief MI
Strategies | Aims | Examples of questions |
|---|---|---|
1. Opening strategy: lifestyle, stresses and current lifestyle practice | To establish rapport and understand the context of the current lifestyle practice | ‘What are your current lifestyle practice in general?’, ‘What are your current stressors?, ‘Where does your current lifestyle practice fit in?’ |
2. Opening strategy: health and current lifestyle practice | To build rapport and relate health with the current lifestyle practice | ‘How does your current lifestyle practice fit in?’, ‘How does your current lifestyle practice affect your health?’, ‘How do you think your current lifestyle practice relate to your health?’ |
3. A typical day | To further establish rapport, assist the subject to talk the current lifestyle practice in detail and to assess the readiness to change | ‘Can you tell me about your day today from beginning to end?’, ‘Can you describe to you a typical day of yours, like today, what happened, how did you feel and where did your current lifestyle fit in? May we start from the beginning?’ |
4. The good things and the less good things | To continue establishing rapport, understanding the context of the current lifestyle practice, and minimize resistance in subjects as conversations will be started with positive points | ‘What are some of the good things/less good things of your current lifestyle practice?‘, ‘What do you like/dislike about your current lifestyle practice?’ |
5. Providing information | To provide relevant information on the healthy lifestyle practices in a sensitive manner | ‘I wonder if you would be interested in knowing …’, ‘I wonder if you would like to know more about …’, ‘I wonder what would you do after knowing …’, ‘How does these relate to your current lifestyle practice?’ |
6. The future and the present | To create discrepancies to motivate the subjects adopting the healthy lifestyle practices | ‘How would you like things to be in the future?’, ‘What is stopping you from doing these things?’. |
7. Exploring Concerns | To help subjects identify and explore concerns about adopting the healthy lifestyle practices | ‘What concerns do you have about engaging in desirable health-related lifestyle practice?’, ‘What other concerns do you have now?’, ‘What else, what other concerns do you have?’ |
8. Helping with decision-making | To assist subjects in decision-making to adopt the healthy lifestyle practices | ‘What does this leave toy now?’, ‘What are you planning to do now?’, ‘What are you going to do now?’ |