Motivational Interviewing to Increase Physical Activity: A Teaching Activity for Exercise Psychology Students

Abstract

Health behavior change, such as increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior, is difficult. Given the complex nature of adopting new behaviors, exercise psychologists and other professionals need to use more effective psychosocial interventions to help people change. The common use of a directive approach to helping people change has been largely unsuccessful. In contrast, motivational interviewing is a method for improving the initiation of physical activity. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe motivational interviewing and offer an introductory learning activity that can be applied in various settings (e.g., exercise psychology courses) to help practitioners working with people on improving physical activity.

Keywords:

• Behavior change
• exercise psychology
• motivational interviewing