Author(s): Emmanuel Appiah-Brempong, Paul Okyere, Ruth Cross and Rose Odotei Adjei
Originally developed to address addictive health behaviour, Motivational Interviewing (MI) is gaining recognition in health promotion as a style for eliciting individual’s intrinsic motivation to change. The growing recognition could be attributed to the increasing understanding that the practice of unhealthy behaviours may not be due to deficiency in knowledge of consequences, but rather a lack of adequate motivation to change. In this paper the utility of MI to the field of health promotion is discussed, elaborating the important contribution of MI to client empowerment. A model for MI delivery in health promotion has been suggested by authors, highlighting some essential elements to be targeted by practitioners. Though MI may not be a panacea to all addictive health behaviour change, it presents useful principles which may be lacking in conventional cognitive behavioural therapies. Thus, from literature, MI is presented as a promising approach which can augment the existing socio-environmental strategies of health promotion.
