About us
Background
Effective provider communication using MI skills has been found to increase patient engagement in health care, readiness to participate in health care and patient satisfaction with health care providers in several populations. Though MI is widely used in some health care settings like substance abuse treatment centers, it has not yet been widely implemented in rehabilitation settings due to the lack of rehabilitation-specific MI resources. There are few educational resources available for rehabilitation providers to learn MI and learn how to implement MI in rehabilitation settings. As experienced rehabilitation professionals, the REC team wanted to meet the needs of our rehabilitation community and fill this gap.
To manage a disability and/or chronic illness in the long-term, patients and families must engage in quality self-management practices. However, it is common for patients and families to face significant educational, emotional, behavioral and social barriers to engaging in self-management programs. Providers, while well trained in the technical dimensions of their discipline, often lack training in the MI skills and principles that lead to effective patient engagement in such programs. Ultimately, if rehabilitation providers use effective MI when they work with patients and families, the patients and families are more likely to…
- Feel more invested in their rehabilitation experience
- Be more active in defining their rehabilitation program
- Experience improved self-efficacy in managing chronic aspects of the disability
- Have decreased risk for secondary medical complications
- Experience overall improved quality of life