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Motivational Interviewing to Promote the Effectiveness of Selective Prevention: an Integrated School-Based Approach

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Abstract

School Mental Health prevention approaches that use multi-tiered systems are advancing rapidly. However, there is a relative shortage of effective selective prevention programs feasible to implement within the school context. To optimize the effectiveness of selective prevention in this context, a Motivational Interviewing (MI)–based prevention program for an adolescent student population was developed and tested. Footprints utilizes MI to increase engagement in modular Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and to promote academic protective factors. In this study, forty-three adolescents were randomly assigned to Footprints or a treatment-as-usual waitlist control. Participants in the experimental condition demonstrated significant increases in behavioral and emotional functioning, self-efficacy to regulate behaviors, positive expectations for success, academic motivation, and grades in mathematics. Simultaneously, Footprints received high ratings for feasibility and acceptability within a dynamic school context. This exploratory efficacy evaluation provides initial support for MI’s potential to promote the effectiveness of school-based prevention programs and warrants further study.

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Funding

The corresponding author was awarded a graduate student research fellowship to implement this study. This study was funded by a Support to Promote Advancement of Research and Creativity (SPARC) Fellowship awarded by the University of South Carolina Office of the Vice President of Research ($5,500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    John D. Terry, Mark D. Weist & Marissa Miller

  2. University of Houston–Clear Lake, Houston, TX, USA

    Gerald G. Strait

Authors
  1. John D. Terry
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  2. Mark D. Weist
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  3. Gerald G. Strait
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  4. Marissa Miller
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Correspondence to John D. Terry.

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Conflict of Interest

Dr. Terry declares that he has no conflict of interest. Dr. Weist declares that he has no conflict of interest. Dr. Strait declares that he provides training on School-Based Motivational Interviewing and owns the website StudentCheckup.org. Dr. Miller declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of South Carolina Institutional Review Board (Pro00028119) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent and assent were obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Terry, J.D., Weist, M.D., Strait, G.G. et al. Motivational Interviewing to Promote the Effectiveness of Selective Prevention: an Integrated School-Based Approach. Prev Sci 22, 799–810 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01124-4

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