Enhancing Motivation for Change in Substance Abuse

Motivational intervention is broadly defined as any clinical strategy designed to enhance client motivation for change. It can include counseling, client assessment, multiple sessions, or a 30-minute brief intervention. This chapter examines the elements of effective motivational approaches and supporting research. Motivational strategies are then correlated with the stages-of-change model (a framework that is discussed in Chapter 1 and elaborated on in later chapters) to highlight approaches that are appropriate to specific stages. Recommendations are presented for providing motivational interventions that are responsive and sensitive to differing cultural and diagnostic needs, as well as to different settings and formats. This chapter concludes with a description of an increasingly accepted type of intervention known as a brief intervention, which is useful outside of traditional substance abuse treatment settings. For a broader discussion of brief interventions and therapies, refer to the forthcoming TIP, Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance Abuse (CSAT, in press [a]).