• The HEEADSSS psychosocial interview for adolescents is useful for developing effective and empathetic communication with adolescents and young adults. This article also contains excellent information about the importance of providing confidential healthcare for adolescents.
• HEADS-ED is a validated psychosocial tool developed for use in pediatric emergency departments, with planning underway to use it in primary healthcare and schools.

Motivational interviewing is a communication tool based on the idea that making life changes can be difficult. Through talking, healthcare professionals can help patients resolve ambivalent feelings and barriers to changing their behavior. Simply telling a patient to change rarely works. To learn more about the stages of change as well as the why and how of motivational interviewing, watch the following YouTube videos:

• Overcoming Resistance to Change - Isn't It Obvious? – This six minute video provides understanding about why people resist change and how to approach it so they are more likely to engage.
• The Power of Habit - This three minute video offers an understanding of the neurological structure of a habit, and the importance addressing not only the behaviour you want to change but the cues and rewards connected to it.
• The Ineffective Physician: Non-Motivational Approach & the Effective Physician: Motivational Interviewing Demonstration – Watch these two contrasting videos to see how patient outcomes are directly impacted by the approach healthcare providers take when addressing behaviours like smoking.
• Trans-Theoretical Model of Behaviour Change – This six minute video introduces the Trans-Theoretical Model of Behaviour Change (also known as the Stages of Change Model) that was developed by Prochaska and DeClemente in the late 1970’s. This model assesses a person’s readiness for change and suggests strategies to guide them toward it.

To learn about courses that teach motivational interviewing, go to Education for Healthcare Providers.