Which skills are included in Motivation Interviewing Skills?

• A. Restating only
• B. Interpreting patient data
• C. Silence, Broad Opening, Select Focus, Clarify
• D. Asking open-ended questions, providing affirmations, practicing reflective listening, and periodically providing summary statements

Answer: (D)

Motivational Interviewing skills center on guiding a conversation in a collaborative, nonjudgmental way to elicit the patient’s own reasons for change. The practical toolkit is captured by the OARS approach: Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, and Summaries. Open-ended questions invite the patient to tell their story and explore ambivalence; Affirmations recognize strengths and effort, helping build confidence; Reflective listening demonstrates empathy and understanding while encouraging deeper exploration; and periodic Summaries pull together what has been said and highlight change talk, reinforcing motivation and planning.

This is why the option listing open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summaries is the best fit. Restating alone doesn’t capture the full range of MI techniques; interpreting patient data is more about analysis than the conversational style MI promotes; and the other set names tactics that aren’t the standard MI core skills.