Behavior Change Techniques and Motivational Interviewing in Practice

This part covers how to put behavior change into practice. The behavior change technique taxonomy, with 16 domains and 93 techniques such as goal setting and prompts and cues, gives clinicians and researchers a shared language and makes interventions replicable. Motivational interviewing is presented as the way to deliver these techniques. Its spirit is collaborative, evocative and respectful of autonomy: dancing with the patient instead of a tug of war, finding what actually motivates them, and accepting their decisions. The guiding principles include resisting the urge to correct, understanding the patient's motivations, listening and paraphrasing, letting silence work, and empowering the patient's own ideas, however small. A worked example brings the steps together: identify the target behavior and outcome, analyze it with COM-B, choose the intervention function and techniques, then deliver it with motivational interviewing. Taking pain relief earlier and regularly, framed with a simple pain-threshold diagram, led to better pain control and more physical activity, using goal setting and pharmacological support. The lesson closes on stigma, communication and respect for patient autonomy.