Training Therapists in Motivational Interviewing

Training Therapists in Motivational Interviewing to Enhance Rehabilitation Participation for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)

The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a Motivational Interviewing intervention on therapy participation as performed by physical and occupational therapists in an inpatient setting with patients with spinal cord injuries.

Physical and Occupational Therapists that work in the inpatient spinal cord injury unit will be trained in Motivational Interviewing and will use the communication style to determine whether it is an effective tool to increase participation in therapy as opposed to patients who will have Physical and Occupational Therapists that are not trained in Motivational Interviewing.

Therapist Inclusion Criteria:

• Inpatient therapist specializing in spinal cord injury patients for at least 3 months
• Practicing on one of the two designated inpatient units
• Willing to collect Patient Rehabilitation Participation Scale (PRPS) daily on their patients
• Willing to audio record conversations with patients;
• Willing and able to participate in 16 hours of MI training
• Willing to receive feedback on MI skills

Therapist Exclusion Criteria:

• Inpatient therapist specializing in spinal cord injury patients for less than 3 months
• Unwilling or unable to follow the study protocol

Patient Inclusion Criteria:

• Inpatient in the spinal cord injury unit
• Has a physical or occupational therapist who is a participant in the study

Patient Exclusion Criteria:

• Unwilling to allow for therapy sessions to be recorded