Matrix search results

Effectiveness bank home page. Opens new window Matrix search results

You have found 90 entries after clicking on a search link (usually the MORE information link) in a matrix cell. Starting with analyses of the most recently published documents, the list shows in orange the type of entry, year the original document was published (or if one of our own documents, the year last updated), and the type of file you will download when you click on the title. In blue is the document’s title followed by a brief description.

Click blue titles to view full text in a new window
Use the selectors at the bottom to turn to the next page in the list of documents
Re-order the list by the most recently added or updated entries or by the main topic addressed


If you have not found what you want you could:
Select from the full range of topics and search options available on our topic search page.
Instead try a free text search for documents which contain the words you specify.
Or try browsing back issues of the magazine or the more recent email bulletins.
Try the information services provided by partner agencies.
Tried everything? E-mail the Findings editor for help by clicking on this logo Drug and Alcohol Findings logo



STUDY 2014 HTM file
Influence of counselor characteristics and behaviors on the efficacy of a brief motivational intervention for heavy drinking in young men – a randomized controlled trial

Swiss study of brief alcohol interventions with a representative sample of heavy drinking young men exposed the determining influence on later drinking of the practitioner’s competence in motivational interviewing and how they behave in the session.

DOCUMENT 2013 HTM file
When confrontation was challenged

Focus is on a seminal study from motivational interviewing’s originator which more than any other heightened the profile of the therapist’s interpersonal style in substance use counselling, seeming to confirm that heavy drinkers react best to non-confrontational nudging rather than the more bludgeoning style typical of the time.

DOCUMENT 2013 HTM file
Sometimes best to break the rules

Motivational interviewing’s ‘Do not dos’ like avoiding confrontation were intended to sidestep the traps which provoke clients to dig in their heels or disengage. Imagine then the upset of discovering that in certain circumstances, the opposite is the case; the explanation appeared to lie in coming across as ‘genuine’.

REVIEW 2013 HTM file
Meta-analysis of the effects of MI training on clinicians’ behavior

The first analysis to amalgamate findings on training clinicians in motivational interviewing finds training does develop competence, especially when reinforced by supervision or coaching based on feedback on trainees’ actual performance. For some trainees there may be no need for initial training to be face-to-face; books and videos may do as well.

STUDY 2012 HTM file
Innovation adoption as facilitated by a change-oriented workplace

Message from this large US study is that 'bottom-up' practice improvements in treatment services initiated by counsellors are still strongly influenced by the climate-setting and support offered by an organisation's leadership and ethos, especially how far they foster professional development.

STUDY 2012 HTM file
Brief intervention for drug-abusing adolescents in a school setting: outcomes and mediating factors

Aged 16 and smoking cannabis or drinking coming up to one day in three, US youngsters identified as substance users by their schools substantially cut back in response to just two motivational counselling sessions, and even more when a third session addressed the parents at home.

STUDY 2012 HTM file
Motivational interviewing: a pilot test of active ingredients and mechanisms of change

Motivational interviewing’s originator has stressed how unexpected findings can force fruitful rethinking. This study may prove an example; designed to forefront the approach’s distinct active ingredients, other than fleetingly and non-significantly, these did not seem active at all among the stable, moderately dependent drinkers recruited to the trial.

STUDY 2012 HTM file
Does active referral by a doctor or 12-step peer improve 12-step meeting attendance? Results from a pilot randomised control trial

In the context of current UK policy, this is a key study, testing the ambition to extend recovery beyond formal treatment by systematically linking patients to mutual aid groups, the main way it is being suggested commissioners can square the circle of doing more (recovery is seen as a whole-life transformation) with less.

STUDY 2012 HTM file
An evaluation of the Option 2 intensive family preservation service

In Wales Option 2 works intensively over a few weeks with substance using parents whose children are at serious risk – serious enough for imminent care proceedings. This second evaluation confirmed that the cost-saving service helps keep children with their families without inadvertently harming the children.

STUDY 2012 HTM file
Implementation issues in an innovative rural substance misuser treatment program

Detailed, frank and compelling account of what it takes in the real world (when implementers have to grapple with counsellors and organisations over which they have no control) to introduce a new treatment approach. Key lesson is that each organisation is different; being there, learning about that unique context, and taking it in to account, is what’s needed to give implementation a chance.


Select search results page

PREVIOUS | NEXT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9