Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing on Improving Care for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in China

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, patient-centered counseling approach that aims to elicit behavior change. Counselors use empathy and other techniques to create an atmosphere to help patients to explore the discrepancies between the goals and their current behavior. The focus of MI is to find and resolve the ambivalence, improve patients' perception of the importance of behavior change, and support them to make the change. MI provides a structural framework with guiding principles that can be easily followed by the primary care doctors. Program content was further informed by the Hospital Authority Patient Empowerment Program in Hong Kong. The education program consisted of four modules, held once a week, that each lasted approximately 1½ to 2 hours. They were grouped under the following four broad headings: Knowing Diabetes, Diabetes Self-Care, Healthy Diet and Physical Exercise.

The control group received traditional lectures that consisted solely of conveying healthcare information to patients. In order to minimize intervention bias, the control group lectures were standardized and adapted into four modules, namely knowing diabetes, healthy diet, physical exercises, and how to use medication correctly, which were similar topic headings, durations and frequencies to those of the intervention group. Each lecture was 1 hour and was provided by one of four health professionals (a pharmacist, dietician, endocrinologist or nurse) who had never received any prior training in MI. We consciously avoided the inclusion of elements of self-reflection and motivation in these lectures.