A Motivational Interviewing (MI) Guide to Encouraging Key COVID19 Prevention Behaviors (including stay in place, hand washing and social distancing)
An evidence based approach for helping your neighbors, family, and friends “flatten the curve”.
A thread 🧵
An evidence based approach for helping your neighbors, family, and friends “flatten the curve”.
A thread 🧵
1. Stop the shaming/judgement/name calling. Empathy is key to behavior change. It’s completely normal to feel conflicted about these prevention behaviors. Try “I understand this is hard” instead of “stay home you idiot”
2. Point out the discrepancy between behavior and values. Try “I know you care about protecting others, which seems at odds with hanging out with friends”.
3. It’s normal to be resistant and defensive when we are asked to make big changes! Avoid the urge to argue. Instead try to explore all the options with them. Try “what do you think would happen if you didn’t stay in place? What are the pros and cons?”
4. Believe that people are capable of change. Also, understand that other people can and will make choices based on their own value system. You can’t force anyone to wash their hands if they don’t want to.
5. Accept and celebrate small incremental changes in behavior. If someone was planning on bar hopping, but instead decides to have a few friends over... it’s a win, even if it’s not the one you want. Talking about change is a win too... even if it doesn’t lead to behavior yet.
I’ll let you in on a trade secret... changing behavior is HARD. But these tools really do help!
