06 Feb Motivational Interviewing’s Concept of “OARS”

This discussion wants to help you learn about MI’s concept of OARS. Take a few minutes and watch the YouTube video where OARS is being explained and then demonstrated called Motivational Interviewing: Core Clinician Skills – Introducing OARS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zEpwxJlRQI

Please make sure to include each bulleted question with your answer for clarity. In a good paragraph each, give two sentences from the video demonstrating:

· Open-ended Questions

· Affirming

· Reflections

· Summarizing

Since reflecting is a primary skill on which MI is based and often seems to be where some students struggle, below is an example of reflecting (excerpted from Rosengren’s 2009 edition of Building Motivational Interviewing Skills, pp. 48-49):

I am an organized person.

You mean that . . . you like to have things orderly.

It sounds like you are saying . . . you tend to rely on routines.

Do you mean that . . . you don’t like it when things change unexpectedly.

I think I hear you saying . . . you think logically.

Now practice coming up with at least three reflections for each of these client comments (please place your reflections in bold so I can easily see them):

· Conflict makes me uncomfortable.

· I am generally a happy person.

· I let people bother me more than I should.

Next, spend time sharing with your classmates:

· In chapter 2, the authors mention 4 “traps” that we need to be aware of when using MI. Name each one, and in a few sentences each, briefly discuss how to avoid those traps when dealing with our client “Marci.”

· Because reflective listening can be challenging to practice at first, it is a learnable skill. Give an example of how you were able to try it with a real person this week. This could be a spouse, child, co-worker, acquaintance, etc. (no names or personal information!).

· Closeout your post with a “plan of action” of how you can implement reflecting more into your day-to-day life when communicating with others.