Motivational interviewing for substance abuse

Motivational interviewing might possibly reduce the extent of substance abuse compared to no intervention.

The quality of evidence is downgraded by study limitations (several shortcomings in study quality) and by inconsistency (unexplained variability in results).

Summary

A Cochrane review included 59 studies with a total of 13342 subjects. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centred, semi-directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. Compared to no treatment MI showed an effect on substance use which was strongest at post-intervention (SMD 0.79, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.09; 4 trials, n=202) and weaker at short (SMD 0.17, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.26; 15 trials, n=2327), and medium follow-up (SMD 0.15, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.25; 15 trials, n=2224). For long follow-up, the effect was not significant.

Clinical comments

Date of latest search:

Ədəbiyyat

1. Smedslund G, Berg RC, Hammerstrøm KT et al. Motivational interviewing for substance abuse. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011;(5):CD008063.