How Motivational Interviewing Helps Patients with Diabetes
Q How can I use MI with my patients with diabetes?
MI can be used in a variety of clinical settings, including primary care and behavioral health, and can be effective when employed even in short periods of time.8,9 This communication style can be incorporated into regular follow-up appointments to help the clinician and the patient work toward better glycemic control and improved long-term outcomes.
For clinicians who are new users of MI, consider the mnemonic OARS (Open-ended questions, Affirmations, accurate empathic Reflections, Summarizing) to utilize the core components of MI.10 The OARS techniques are vital MI tools that can help the clinician explore the patient’s motivation for pursuing change, and they help the clinician recognize and appreciate the patient’s perspective on the challenges of initiating change.10 The following sample conversation illustrates how OARS can be used.
Open-ended question:
Clinician: What do you think are the greatest challenges when it comes to controlling your diabetes?
Patient: It’s just so frustrating, I keep avoiding bad food and trying to eat healthy, but my sugar still goes up.
Affirmations:
Clinician: Thank you for sharing that with me. It sounds like you are persistent and have been working hard to make healthier choices.
Patient: Yes, but I’m so tired of trying. It just doesn’t seem to work.
Accurate empathic reflections:
Clinician: It is important for you to control your diabetes, but you feel discouraged by the results that you’ve seen.
Patient: Yeah, I just don’t know what else to do to make my sugar better.
Continue to: Summarizing
