The Impact of psychological characteristics on the effectiveness of motivational interviewing for musculoskeletal patients

Abstract

Introduction: Healthy lifestyle may improve the symptoms and recovering process for musculoskeletal patients. Despite this, patients do not tend to practice healthy behavior. One of the psychological interventions focused on enhancing client's motivation to change is motivational interviewing (MI). It might be that MI effectiveness can be influenced by other factors, such as patients' personality traits. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of MI and the importance of personality traits in promoting health behavior changes for musculoskeletal patients. Methods: A quasi experiment design was employed. The study sample consisted 134 musculoskeletal patients (40 men and 94 women, mean age 57.71 ± 10.37), 73 of them were randomised to treatment group and 61 - to control group. Readiness to Change Questionnaire and NEO-FFI were used as study outcomes which were assessed by self-report questionnaires at baseline, post-treatment and three-month follow-up. One to four MI sessions have been applied to treatment group patients and their outcomes were compared with control group patients. Findings: Results confirmed the effectiveness of MI for improving the readiness to change smoking and physical activity behaviors for treatment group patients during rehabilitation period. Personality traits were important only to control group patients: readiness to change physical activity increased for patients whose extraversion was higher and whose conscientiousness was lower.