Skill Assessment

==Skill Assessment==

'''Abstract''': Using a structured assessment at the beginning of a training session can help the trainer decide how to prioritize training time. It gives you a sense of the starting skill level and the variability of the group with whom you are about to work.

'''Overview''': It is difficult to know how skilled trainees are in basic skills that are critical for motivational interviewing. The trainer may use a questionnaire or role-play to assess trainees at the beginning of the teaching session to indicate where more intensive teaching is needed. For example, if trainees are able to make good reflections without exhibiting judgment or confrontation, the trainer might choose to focus on more advanced motivational interviewing skills. However, if trainees don’t already have solid reflective listening skills in place, it will be difficult to go further, and the trainer will probably decide to invest more time in this area.

'''Guidelines''': You may complete skill assessment before training begins, if you have access to participants in advance. If assessment is done at the beginning of a workshop, make it a fun exercise. You may want to introduce the exercise as a way of getting to know the work settings of the trainees.

'''Example(s)''':
The Helpful Responses Questionnaire (Miller, Hedrick & Orlofsky, 1991) is a format that provides a set of statements from hypothetical clients, to which the counselor is asked to respond in writing: What is the next thing that you might say, when a client says this?. Such a task can be repeated after training. This works best when the questionnaire is personalized for each training situation. Use client statement examples that apply to the trainees’ work setting.

'''Notes''':
Miller, W. R., Hedrick, K. E., & Orlofsky, D. (1991). The Helpful Responses Questionnaire: A procedure for measuring therapeutic empathy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 444-448.

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from Motivational Interviewing Training for New Trainers (TNT), Resources for Trainers, http://www.motivationalinterviewing.org/