Medical rehabilitation and the management of chronic health conditions requires patients to be proactive and engaged in their health care. This need for active partnership between patients and rehabilitation professionals takes place in an evolving health care environment that calls for patient-centered care with a greater focus on patient experience and improved outcomes. Rehabilitation professionals need strategies and tools to build trusting therapeutic alliances, support goal-setting, and promote behavior change to engage patients as collaborative partners.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an evidenced-based approach shown to change behaviors and increase engagement in many patient populations. The foundational concepts and skills of MI emphasize building a collaborative relationship in which the person's autonomy is respected and their personal goals are clarified and pursued, empowering individuals towards goal attainment and independence, consistent with the ethos of rehabilitation settings. The goals of the book are to 1) provide rehabilitation professionals with the knowledge of MI; 2) describe how this approach can be applied by a range of rehabilitation professionals working with persons with a wide range of impairments and chronic health problems; and 3) deliver strategies for implementing MI training and evaluation in rehabilitation settings.

About the Author:
Nicole Schechter is a board-certified rehabilitation psychologist and Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her clinical activity is focused on providing psychological services to persons with traumatic injuries and chronic illness. She also focuses on developing and implementing communication interviewing training programs in healthcare organizations to improve health care professional skills, patient satisfaction, and health outcomes.

Connie Jacocks is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist and the founder of Vista Neuropsychology. She has extensive experience in neurorehabilitation having served on the faculty in the Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the staff of Craig Rehabilitation Hospital. Clinical research interests include the integration of motivational interviewing into a variety of treatment settings and modalities to increase patient participation and engagement.

Lester Butt is a Senior Psychologist at Craig Hospital and past Department Chair of the Department of Psychology Department. He is a Fellow in the Divisions of Psychotherapy, Trauma, and Rehabilitation Psychology in the American Psychological Association. His clinical foci involve neurorehabilitation with persons with spinal cord injury, treatment modalities, bioethics, and quality of life post-disability.

Stephen T. Wegener is Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Director of the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He also serves as Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His clinical activity focuses on providing psychological services to persons with traumatic injuries and chronic illness. His research focuses on theories and projects that improve function and reduce disability following injury or illness. These projects emphasize the importance of patient-centered care models, self-management by patients and the use of motivational interviewing by providers.