Brief Motivational Interviewing: Evaluation of a skills-based education program

Purpose: Oral health care providers have been charged with recommending the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for the prevention of HPV oropharyngeal cancers (OPC). The purpose of this study was to determine dental hygiene student competency of the application of brief motivational interviewing (BMI) and the accuracy of HPV vaccine information for the prevention of HPV OPC. Methods: A convenience sample of 59 senior dental hygiene (DH) students from the class of 2020 (n=31) and the class of 2021 (n=28) participated in the HPV OPC curriculum and skills-based BMI training at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Students completed two audio-recorded patient interactions and one Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Student self-assessment and faculty evaluation scores were determined by a standardized BMI HPV rubric. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Class of 2021 self-assessment ratings were higher than the class of 2020 in all components of the BMI HPV rubric at all three time points. Faculty evaluation achieved statistically significant improvement for the class of 2021 from patient Interaction 1 (evocation p<0.01; summary p<0.01) to the OSCE (evocation p<0.05; summary p<0.01). Both classes rated themselves as competent (≥70%) for most BMI subcategories. Conclusion: Dental hygiene student competence in demonstrating the components of the Spirit of MI to the accuracy of HPV and HPV vaccine information was achieved through the implementation of the skills-based BMI HPV training. Outcomes of student self-assessment and faculty evaluation highlighted the Kirkpatrick Model as a framework to evaluate BMI skills-based training.