ISSA Nutritionist Practice Exam

What motivational interviewing strategy focuses on emphasizing clients' past successes and strengths?

1. Affirmation

2. Objective data

3. Goal setting

4. Reflection

The correct answer is: Affirmation

The strategy that emphasizes clients' past successes and strengths is affirmation. In motivational interviewing, affirmation involves recognizing and acknowledging a client's strengths, achievements, and positive qualities. This approach helps to bolster the client's confidence and self-efficacy, making them more likely to engage in their health and behavioral change journey. By focusing on what clients have already accomplished and the skills they possess, affirmation encourages them to see themselves as capable individuals. This can be particularly powerful in discussions around overcoming challenges or setting new goals, as it builds a positive foundation for ongoing motivation and change. Affirmation not only validates the client’s experiences but can also inspire them to draw on those strengths in future efforts, enhancing their overall resilience. Other strategies like objective data, goal setting, and reflection play vital roles in motivational interviewing but do not specifically target the emphasis on past successes and strengths. Objective data can provide facts and figures but may lack the personal touch of recognizing individual achievements. Goal setting focuses on establishing future objectives rather than celebrating past accomplishments, while reflection involves summarizing or paraphrasing the client's thoughts and feelings, rather than specifically highlighting their strengths.