Influencing the sustainability of washing behavior by using motivational interviewing

Manufacturers of household appliances and detergents have made great and successful strides in recent years to meet the challenge of sustainable development. But it is primarily the consumer who, through her/his individual use of household appliances, has an essential impact on the energy and resource consumption of a household, particularly in the area of textile care. Considerable savings potentials have been identified by a number of studies. But which methods are suitable for convincing consumers to practice more sustainable washing behavior? In addition to the frequently used informational brochures, some authors have suggested using alternative channels and forms of communication. One of the options is motivational interviewing, which has so far mostly been used in the medical area but seems to be suited also for other applications. This study applies motivational interviewing to the field of household technology and examines if interviews which are based on this technique can influence aspects of the washing behavior that are strongly related to sustainability. For this purpose, the participants’ washing behavior was recorded in a washing diary before and after the intervention, and sustainability was operationalized and compared using several evaluated aspects. The data gathered show that the sustainability of washing behavior in the group of subjects studied increased after an intervention by means of motivational interviewing. It also showed that the necessity to increase the sustainability of washing behavior is still an issue. Personalized communication designed specifically for the target group, such as in motivational interviewing, seems to be suitable for this purpose and might also be used in the future by actors advising consumers.