Table 1 Reinforcement strategies to support youth discuss health behaviour change topics
Reinforcement strategy | Example |
|---|---|
Praise | “Thanks for raising that” or “Great question!” |
Reinforcement | “I thought that was a great question about X” or “Wow, what a wonderful idea” |
Guide | “You asked something about thoughts/feelings/behaviours, and I’m interested to hear more about that. Does anyone else have something to add to that topic?” |
Encourage self-reflection post-praise | “That’s a great question. Why do you think that’s important?” |
Modelling | Ask questions using CBT and MI principles as per SMART Recovery guidelines |
Summarising at end of session | “I really liked all of the questions about the things that might be triggering certain behaviours, sharing of really practical skills, and most of all the encouragement between everyone” |
Pre-teaching | Encourage questions about thoughts, feelings, behaviours in the introduction |
Limit attention given to questions that is not CBT/MI related, and interrupt/stop questions that are not appropriate | “I hate to interrupt, but I feel that it’s important that we move away from discussion that encourages unhealthy behaviours” |
Prompting | “I’m interested in whether anyone else has had a similar experience and how their emotions or thoughts influenced their behaviour” |