Motivational Interviewing: Reading List

Motivational interviewing is a counselling approach that aims to harness an individual’s motivation to change and promote autonomy in decision making. It is an important style that is used in the treatment of substance use and addiction-related problems. Here, you can find a list of resources and pieces of research that provide information on the topic.

1) In 2020, we were joined by Igor Koutsenok, MD, MS, who delivered an excellent series of virtual training sessions on motivational interviewing. Here, you can find recordings of all four of the sessions as well as the course slides.

2) Motivational Interviewing is an integral part of SBIRT, and its principles can also be applied to other therapeutic interactions revolving around behaviour change. the Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addictions have developed a selection of materials for practitioners, which can be accessed here.

3) This book, entitled ‘Motivational interviewing: Helping people change’, is written by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick and is a bestselling work for professionals and students. The accessible textbook includes vignettes, case examples and a range of helpful resources for practitioners.

4) In this webinar series, hosted by the South Africa International Technology Transfer Centre in collaboration with MI & Beyond, clinicians and researchers from across Africa draw on lessons from existing research and dissemination activities of Motivational Interviewing in Africa.

5) As part of the essentials of series… the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has developed a guidance sheet on motivational interviewing that examines the evidence, describes the mechanisms and considers the implication for substance use treatment.

6) This Cochrane review assessed the effectiveness of motivational interviewing for substance use on drug use, retention in treatment, readiness to change, and the number of repeat convictions.  

7) The Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers has gathered a selection of videos to demonstrate core skills and techniques that are used within motivational interviewing. You can view the collection of videos here.

8) This guide, developed by SAMHSA, examines the use of motivational interviewing in substance use disorder treatment. It provides information on the nature of motivational interviewing as well as tools practitioners can use within their practice.

9) In this paper, the authors describe the relational and technical components of motivational interviewing. The researchers review the literature and development of a theory of the underlying mechanisms of this brief psychotherapy.