How do you enhance intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy?

2 Develop discrepancy

Discrepancy is the gap between your client's current behavior and their desired goals or values. Developing discrepancy can help your client recognize the consequences of their behavior and the benefits of change. To develop discrepancy, you need to ask open-ended questions, explore pros and cons, and use decisional balance exercises. Avoid arguing, confronting, or persuading your client to change. Instead, let them express their own reasons and arguments for change.

3 Roll with resistance

Resistance is a sign of ambivalence or mismatch between your client's readiness and your approach. Rolling with resistance means avoiding power struggles, defensiveness, or counterarguments. To roll with resistance, you need to use reflective listening, reframe negative statements, emphasize personal choice and responsibility, and shift focus or direction. Avoid challenging, correcting, or disagreeing with your client. Instead, acknowledge and respect their concerns and doubts.

5 Evoke change talk

Change talk is any statement that indicates your client's desire, ability, reasons, need, or commitment to change. Eliciting and reinforcing change talk can increase your client's intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. To evoke change talk, you need to use open-ended questions, scaling questions, hypothetical questions, and importance-confidence rulers. Avoid eliciting or reinforcing sustain talk, which is any statement that indicates your client's preference for maintaining the status quo or avoiding change. Instead, respond to sustain talk with reflections, summaries, or questions that invite change talk.

6 Plan for action

Action is the stage where your client is ready to implement their behavior change plan. Planning for action can help your client translate their motivation and self-efficacy into concrete steps and strategies. To plan for action, you need to negotiate and collaborate with your client on setting SMART goals, identifying potential barriers and solutions, and reviewing and revising the plan as needed. Avoid imposing or prescribing your own plan or expectations. Instead, support your client's autonomy and ownership of their plan.