#329 Alex Pearson: How to Actually Help Your Clients Change Their Behaviours (repost)
Feb 1, 2022
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Behaviour change and obesity expert Alex Pearson joins the podcast to discuss motivational interviewing, exploring ambivalence and change talk. They highlight the importance of personalized learning methods and reflect on the power of sustain talk. Strategies to amplify change talk and recognize it in everyday conversations are also explored.
Ambivalence is crucial to address in behavior change challenges, as it involves conflicting feelings about making a change.
Listening for change and sustain talk can help gauge a client's readiness for change and guide conversations towards amplifying change talk.
Using reflections and open-ended questions can help practitioners evoke more change talk from clients and deepen exploration of client perspectives.
Deep dives
Ambivalence in Behavior Change
Ambivalence is discussed as the root of many behavior change challenges, as it involves feeling compelling reasons for and against making a change. Research suggests that about two-thirds of people experience ambivalence when attempting behavioral change. Ambivalence arises due to the cost and downside associated with change. For example, parents may feel sad when their self-sufficient teenager leaves for college, despite wanting them to become independent. Recognizing and addressing ambivalence is crucial for practitioners to assist clients in navigating and processing their conflicting feelings, allowing them to move towards change.
Change Talk vs. Sustain Talk
Change talk refers to self-expressed language that supports making a change. It is essential during client-practitioner interactions as it predicts subsequent behavior change. On the other hand, sustain talk refers to language that opposes change. It represents a desire to stay in the current situation, the ability to function as is, or a need for things to remain the same. Effectively listening for change and sustain talk can help practitioners gauge a client's readiness for change and guide conversations towards amplifying change talk, which increases the likelihood of behavior change.
Eliciting Change Talk
To evoke more change talk from clients, practitioners can use reflections and selectively reflect on the client's statements to highlight the change talk. By reflecting both the change and sustain talk, practitioners can nudge the conversation towards more change talk. Reflections help clients feel heard and understood, providing them with an opportunity to explore their thoughts and motivations further. Additionally, maintaining a ratio of more reflections to questions can prevent conversations from becoming question-answer sessions and allow for deeper exploration of client perspectives.
Reflecting and Open-Ended Questions
Reflecting involves paraphrasing or summarizing a client's statement and feeding it back to them, ensuring they feel heard and validated. It is a way of amplifying change talk and demonstrating empathy. Open-ended questions are another powerful tool to elicit more information and promote deeper reflection. By avoiding closed-ended questions that lead to simple yes or no answers, practitioners create opportunities for clients to express themselves more fully, ultimately leading to more insightful and meaningful conversations.
Taking Action and Experimenting
The key to incorporating motivational interviewing techniques is to focus on taking action and experimenting with different approaches. Practitioners are encouraged to choose one aspect of motivational interviewing that resonates with them, such as listening for change and sustain talk or using reflections, and prioritize practicing that skill. By implementing these techniques in real-life conversations, practitioners can build their proficiency over time and develop a better understanding of how to effectively guide clients towards behavior change.
Alex Pearson, LTB's behaviour change and obesity expert, joins Stuart for today's reposted episode. They discuss helping clients with ambivalence, change and sustain talk, ways to encourage more change talk, using reflections and more. It's a practical discussion about motivational interviewing - a core practice you can use to help your clients change their behaviours.
