The Effective Use of Questions

Written by Carrie Bader, MPH, MOT, Boost Oregon’s Training Director

As Boost Oregon’s Training Director, I provide training and guidance regarding conversational skills when working with vaccine-hesitant individuals and groups. My training area of focus is Motivational Interviewing (MI), an evidence-based approach to behavior change that can be helpful in conversations about vaccines. I’ll address ways of incorporating MI into your conversations through occasional blog posts; this post focuses on the effective use of questions.

“Open-ended questions” are considered a core skill in MI. However, I prefer the term “open-minded” questions. It matters less whether a question is grammatically “open” or “closed,” and more what message it sends the client. Am I trying to confront or persuade, or am I genuinely open and curious?

A recent Boost Oregon MI Practice Group focused on this topic. For one hour, a small group from a variety of work settings discussed the use of questions in our helping conversations and determined which questions best demonstrated openness. We shared examples of questions that demonstrate empathy and encourage people to share what is relevant to them.

For example, asking “Do you really want to risk your child getting sick?” of a vaccine-hesitant parent is likely to provoke defensiveness. In contrast, asking “What are your concerns about the flu shot?” or “What worries you about the flu?” are more likely to be met with openness and more conversation. A powerful but counterintuitive approach to promoting positive change is to resist trying to persuade. Instead, try to take the other person’s perspective. Effective questions help us do this.

Interested in learning more? To attend Boost Oregon’s next MI group, “Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy: Lessons from Motivational Interviewing,” please register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrdO6prjssEtzSSChXq2TAp2c_i47lS6fL

Source:

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd edition). Guilford Press.