Motivational Interviewing glossary
Short definitions of the terms used across these guides and in most MI training. Where a term belongs to a specific source, such as the MITI or the transtheoretical model, the entry says so. Each entry links to the guide that treats it in depth.
- Affirmation
- A statement recognising a person’s strengths, efforts, or values. Specific and genuine; not praise or flattery. The A in OARS.OARS skills explained (with practice examples)
- Ambivalence
- Wanting and not wanting a change at the same time. Normal, and the natural home of the contemplation stage; MI treats it as something to explore rather than a problem to overcome.Stages of change in Motivational Interviewing, with example patient language
- Autonomy support
- Explicitly acknowledging that the decision belongs to the person. One aspect of acceptance in MI Spirit.MI Spirit explained: partnership, acceptance, compassion, evocation
- Behavior counts
- In MITI coding, tallies of clinician utterances by type: questions, simple and complex reflections, affirmations, giving information, persuasion, and so on.MITI 4.2.1 for clinicians: what fidelity scores mean in practice
- Change talk
- Any statement by the person in favour of change. Preparatory change talk (desire, ability, reasons, need) and mobilising change talk (commitment, activation, taking steps).Change talk and sustain talk: how to hear them and how to respond
- Complex reflection
- A reflection that adds meaning beyond what was said: an inferred feeling, an implication, a metaphor, or both sides of an ambivalence.OARS skills explained (with practice examples)
- DARN-CAT
- Acronym for the kinds of change talk: Desire, Ability, Reasons, Need (preparatory); Commitment, Activation, Taking steps (mobilising).Change talk and sustain talk: how to hear them and how to respond
- Discord
- Strain in the working relationship: arguing with the clinician, interrupting, disengaging. Distinguished in current MI writing from sustain talk, which is about the behaviour rather than the relationship.
- Double-sided reflection
- A reflection that captures both the sustain-talk and change-talk sides of what the person said, usually joined with “and” and ending on the change side.
- Elicit–provide–elicit
- A pattern for sharing information in MI: ask what the person already knows or wants to know, offer the information with permission, then ask what they make of it.
- Engaging, focusing, evoking, planning
- The four processes of MI, describing how a conversation typically unfolds: building a working relationship, agreeing a direction, drawing out the person’s own motivation, and developing a plan when they are ready.
- Fidelity
- How closely a conversation matches the method as defined. Measured with instruments such as the MITI, usually by trained coders on a recording or transcript.MITI 4.2.1 for clinicians: what fidelity scores mean in practice
- Global ratings
- In MITI coding, whole-conversation scores on qualities such as partnership, empathy, cultivating change talk and softening sustain talk, as opposed to utterance counts.MITI 4.2.1 for clinicians: what fidelity scores mean in practice
- MI Spirit
- The stance underlying MI, described as partnership, acceptance, compassion and evocation.MI Spirit explained: partnership, acceptance, compassion, evocation
- MINT
- The Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, the international community of MI trainers.
- MITI
- Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity: the widely used coding instrument for MI fidelity. Version 4.2.1 combines global ratings and behavior counts.MITI 4.2.1 for clinicians: what fidelity scores mean in practice
- OARS
- The core MI micro-skills: Open questions, Affirmations, Reflections, Summaries.OARS skills explained (with practice examples)
- Open question
- A question that invites elaboration rather than a yes, no, or a single fact.OARS skills explained (with practice examples)
- Reflection-to-question ratio
- The number of reflections divided by the number of questions in a conversation. Training often encourages more reflecting over time; the appropriate target depends on context and coding rules.MITI 4.2.1 for clinicians: what fidelity scores mean in practice
- Righting reflex
- The helper’s urge to correct, warn, or persuade when a person voices sustain talk. Natural, and usually counter-productive in MI.Change talk and sustain talk: how to hear them and how to respond
- Simple reflection
- A reflection that stays close to what the person said, repeating or lightly rephrasing it.OARS skills explained (with practice examples)
- Stages of change
- From the transtheoretical model: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance. Not part of MI itself, but commonly taught alongside it.Stages of change in Motivational Interviewing, with example patient language
- Summary
- A longer reflection that collects several things the person has said, often both sides of an ambivalence, and checks understanding. The S in OARS.OARS skills explained (with practice examples)
- Sustain talk
- The person’s own argument for not changing: the benefits of the status quo or the costs of change. The other half of ambivalence; reflected, not argued with.Change talk and sustain talk: how to hear them and how to respond
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Questions, answered plainly.
What does OARS stand for in Motivational Interviewing?
Open questions, Affirmations, Reflections, Summaries: the four core communication skills of MI.
What is the difference between change talk and sustain talk?
Change talk favours movement toward a change; sustain talk favours staying as things are. Both are normal parts of ambivalence. In MI, change talk is evoked and reflected, and sustain talk is reflected without being argued with.
What is MITI?
Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity, the standard coding instrument for measuring MI fidelity in a recorded conversation. Version 4.2.1 combines global ratings with behavior counts.
From definitions to reps
Practise the terms, not just read them.
MI Mastery counts open questions, reflections and affirmations in your practice transcript and marks change-talk moments, so the vocabulary here becomes something you can see in your own conversations.