Nurses Education in Motivational Interviewing to Increase Veterans' Referrals to MOVE!

Abstract

Purpose: This Quality Improvement project aimed to enhance Southern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System (SAVAHCS) primary care nurses’ ability to refer obese Veterans to the MOVE Weight Loss Program through motivational interviewing education. Background: America's Veterans are exponentially afflicted by obesity but often lack the motivation to adopt a healthier lifestyle and fail to get referred to the MOVE program. This project aimed to educate nurses in motivational interviewing techniques to help facilitate obesity counseling and increase Veterans’ referrals to the MOVE Program, thus, promoting weight loss and improving their health outcomes. Methods: Two weeks after the pre-survey, the nurses received a virtual motivational interviewing education. Two weeks after the training, a post-survey was conducted to measure the project’s impact on nurses' self-report competency. In addition, the MOVE program coordinator provided data on the pre-and post-intervention MOVE referral rates. Results: The data collected two weeks preceding and two weeks after the education session reflected an increase in nurses’ competency in MI skills and obesity counseling. The MOVE program referrals also increased by 33%, from 12 participants to 16. Conclusion. The data revealed motivational interviewing training is effective at increasing nurses’ competency, facilitating obesity conversations, and increasing referrals to the MOVE program.