Derived relations moderate the association between changes in the strength of commitment language and cocaine treatment response.

The psycholinguistic analysis of client-counselor interactions indicates that how individuals talk about their substance use is associated with treatment outcome. However, the processes by which client speech influences out-of-session behaviors have not been clearly delineated. This study investigated the relationships between deriving relations-a key behavioral process by which language and cognition may come to influence behavior, shifts in the strength of client talk in favor of change, and treatment outcome among 75 cocaine-dependent participants (23% Female).

Self-Report After Randomly Assigned Supervision Does not Predict Ability to Practice Motivational Interviewing.

The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between self-report and objective assessment of motivational interviewing (MI) skills following training and supervision. After an MI workshop, 96 clinicians from 26 community programs (age 21-68, 65% female, 40.8% Black, 29.

"Old dogs" and new skills: how clinician characteristics relate to motivational interviewing skills before, during, and after training.

Objective: The relationships between the occupational, educational, and verbal-cognitive characteristics of health care professionals and their motivational interviewing (MI) skills before, during, and after training were investigated.

Method: Fifty-eight community-based addiction clinicians (M = 42.1 years, SD = 10.

Training substance abuse clinicians in motivational interviewing using live supervision via teleconferencing.

Objective: Training through traditional workshops is relatively ineffective for changing counseling practices. Teleconferencing supervision (TCS) was developed to provide remote, live supervision for training motivational interviewing (MI).

Method: Ninety-seven drug treatment counselors completed a 2-day MI workshop and were randomized to live supervision via teleconferencing (TCS; n = 32), standard tape-based supervision (tape; n = 32), or workshop alone (workshop; n = 33).

Cognition, commitment language, and behavioral change among cocaine-dependent patients.

Patients' cognitive abilities and verbal expressions of commitment to behavioral change predict different aspects of substance abuse treatment outcome, but these 2 traits have never been examined conjointly. The authors therefore investigated patients' cognitive abilities and verbal expressions of commitment to behavioral change as predictors of retention and drug use outcomes in an outpatient cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) of adult cocaine-dependent patients. A neuropsychological battery was administered at baseline.

Client language as a mediator of motivational interviewing efficacy: where is the evidence?

Background: Identifying in-session indicators of client outcomes is important in determining the mechanisms of psychotherapeutic treatments, including Motivational Interviewing (MI). The current studies sought to determine if clinician behavior influences client speech, and the extent to which client speech predicted treatment outcome in clients receiving treatment for substance abuse.

Methods: Study 1 examined 38 sessions from 5 sites in Project MATCH.

Providing live supervision via teleconferencing improves acquisition of motivational interviewing skills after workshop attendance.

Teleconferencing Supervision is a method for training community-based substance abuse clinicians in Motivational Interviewing (MI). Following a 2-day workshop, 13 clinicians received live supervision via telephone during 5 counseling sessions conducted at their community treatment facilities. Clinicians were assessed for skill level at post-workshop, at post-training, and 3 months later; learning was assessed using the MI Treatment Integrity instrument.

Client commitment language during motivational interviewing predicts drug use outcomes.

Client language from a motivational interview (MI) and drug use outcome were investigated. Interview videotapes of 84 drug abusers were coded for frequency and strength of utterances expressing commitment, desire, ability, need, readiness, and reasons to change or maintain their habit. Cluster analysis of proportion days abstinent (PDA) revealed 3 groups: high PDA at intake and follow-up (3, 6, 9, 12 months; maintainers); low intake PDA/high follow-up PDA (changers); and low intake PDA/low to moderate follow-up PDA (stragglers).

Revisiting the picture-superiority effect in symbolic comparisons: do pictures provide privileged access?

In 4 experiments, symbolic comparisons were investigated to test semantic-memory retrieval accounts espousing processing advantages for picture over word stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants judged pairs of animal names or pictures by responding to questions probing concrete or abstract attributes (texture or size, ferocity or intelligence). Per pair, attributes were salient or nonsalient concerning their prerated relevance to animals being compared.