Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2017
A randomized controlled trial to influence client language in substance use disorder treatment.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Motivational interviewing training of substance use treatment professionals: A systematic review.Substance abuse · 2019Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of motivational interviewing process: Technical, relational, and conditional process models of change.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2018Pooled it
- The role of the relational context and therapists' technical behaviors in brief motivational interviewing sessions for heavy alcohol consumption: Findings from a sample of Latinx adults.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2023Trial
- What can clients tell us about whether to use motivational interviewing? An analysis of early-session ambivalent language.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2022Trial
- Examining the influence of active ingredients of motivational interviewing on client change talk.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2019Trial
- Group motivational interviewing for homeless young adults: Associations of change talk with substance use and sexual risk behavior.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2017Trial
- Linkage and alcohol use outcomes of a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) program for alcohol-related liver disease: A retrospective cohort study from India.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Adaptation of the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code to Identify Client Language Predicting Reduced Opioid Use Risk and Increased Use of Alternative Pain Care Strategies in Veterans.Methods and protocols · 2025Article
- Learning & motivational talk in smoking cessation interventions: An examination of session language in two randomized trials.Patient education and counseling · 2025Article
- Do improvements in motivational language predict alcohol use in motivational interviewing? Ambivalence matters.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2024Article
- Mechanisms of Motivational Interviewing: a Conceptual Framework to Guide Practice and Research.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2021Article
- Can a pure motivational interviewing intervention be manualized and still efficacious? A test of feasibility and initial efficacy.Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.) · 2021Article
- Integration of motivational interviewing and behavioral economic theories to enhance brief alcohol interventions: Rationale and preliminary examination of client language.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Should Substance Use Counselors Choose a Direction For Their Clients? Motivational Interviewing Trainers May Be Ambivalent.Alcoholism treatment quarterly · 2021Article
- Toward an Emerging Role for Motivational Interviewing in Primary Care.Current psychiatry reports · 2018Review
- The language of change among criminal justice clients: Counselor language, client language, and client substance use outcomes.Journal of clinical psychology · 2018Article
- Short- and Long-Term Effects of Within-Session Client Speech on Drinking Outcomes in the COMBINE Study.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2018Article
- Variability in motivational interviewing adherence across sessions, providers, sites, and research contexts.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundClient language is hypothesized to be a mechanism of action in motivational interviewing (MI). Despite the association of change and sustain talk with substance treatment outcomes, it not known whether providers can intentionally influence this language as hypothesized.
objectiveThis is a randomized controlled trial to investigate whether substance use providers can be trained to influence client language.
methodsTreatment providers specializing in substance use disorders (n=190) were randomly assigned to standard training in MI (MI-AU) or training emphasizing an influence of client language (MI-LEAF). Treatment sessions with actual clients were evaluated 3, 6 and 12 months after training by masked raters. Frequencies of client change and sustain talk were the outcome variables.
resultsSustain talk, but not change talk, was significantly lower in clients whose providers had received the specialized training (b=-0.175, SE=0.087, p=0.046, CI[-0.348 to 0.002], d=-0.325). Mediation analyses supported a causal chain between a) training, b) providers' attempts to minimize sustain talk in treatment sessions via directive reflective listening and c) client sustain talk in the treatment session (κ
conclusionsWith specialized training, providers can reduce the amount of opposition language their clients offer when considering a change in their substance use. Demonstrating that client language is under partial control of the provider supports the feasibility of clinical trials to investigate the impact of shaping client language on treatment outcomes.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.