Professor Robert Scales Ph. D.
Lecture 1: Why Wrestle When You Can Dance: Motivational Interviewing to Promote a Healthful Lifestyle
Robert Scales, Ph.D., Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation & Wellness, Mayo Clinic-Arizona; Associate Clinical Professor, Arizona State University.
Purpose: Provide an introduction to motivational interviewing to help promote healthful behavior in a clinical or corporate wellness setting.
Background: Motivational interviewing (MI) has gained substantial empirical support as an effective option to counsel patients that are ambivalent or not ready to change behavior in the healthcare setting. The distinct style, skills and strategies that characterize the approach differ from traditional persuasive methods by enabling patients to discover their own intrinsic motivation for change. Patients are given the opportunity to partner with their healthcare professional to interpret personalized health information and identify solutions rather than being told what they must do. In the negotiation of a treatment plan, the healthcare professional acknowledges the patient's freedom to decide what, if anything, they will change when they leave the clinic. Although grounded in psychology, the approach is not exclusive to counselors or psychologists. When effectively delivered, patients are more receptive to treatment recommendations, which make consultations less frustrating for the healthcare provider. Improved behavioral and clinical outcomes have been observed in brief consultations. Therefore, it lends itself well to the daily practice of a busy healthcare clinic, where time is often a limiting factor. This presentation identifies the key components of MI and how it can be used to lower patient resistance (dissonance) and promote behavior change.
BIO
Brief Biographical Sketch: Robert Scales, Ph.D., is the Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He joined Mayo Clinic in 2008 as an exercise physiologist and in his administrative role he has provided leadership in the development of cardiology-based interventions to prevent heart disease and related conditions. He has a doctorate degree in education and he is an Associate Clinical Professor in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. His primary research interest is the application of motivational interviewing (MI) and effective provider-patient communication in the healthcare setting.
He was the Principal Investigator in the Cardiovascular Health Initiative and Lifestyle Education (CHILE) Study, the first study to investigate the impact of MI on the behaviors of patients attending cardiac rehabilitation. More recently, he was the Lead Consultant on a National Institutes for Health (NIH) funded study to investigate methods of teaching MI in a health science academic program.
He is an experienced trainer in MI and he has trained both students and clinicians from a variety of healthcare disciplines to use the approach within their own clinical settings. Dr. Scales is a Fellow of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (FAACVPR). He is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT).