Motivational interviewing for enhancing engagement in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) treatment: A review of the literature

Client engagement is an essential component in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) treatment. Engaged clients are more likely to engage with treatment and report a greater degree of treatment satisfaction. Likewise, enhanced engagement is associated with positive treatment outcomes such as session attendance and homework compliance. Only small effect sizes have been reported for reductions in WV itself, and treatment engagement has been identified as an important factor in this, with studies reporting high rates of non-attendance and drop-out. This article reviews research on the efficacy of motivational interviewing (MI) as a pre-treatment intervention to promote treatment engagement for men who have been mandated or self-referred to attend Intimate Partner Violence treatment. Although limited in number (n = 5), these studies revealed a significant improvement in the level of engagement, session attendance and homework compliance following MI. Further research to focus on MI for treatment engagement, specifically, rather than MI for behaviour change is needed.