Veterinarians often give advice in a persuasive form, a style that has been shown to evoke resistance to change in clients experiencing psychological ambivalence (i.e. those who see both advantages and disadvantages to changing). With this style of communication, veterinarians run the risk of counteracting their purpose to encourage clients to follow recommendations. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centered communication methodology that aims to facilitate clients’ internal motivation to change. In MI, Change Talk represents clients’ own statements expressing consideration of, motivation for or commitment to behavior change and has been shown to be strongly correlated with behavior change. Sustain Talk is corresponding statements related to maintaining the status quo. The aim of this exploratory study was to evaluate the potential of MI to facilitate behavior change in veterinary herd health management (VHHM) by investigating the effect of dairy cattle veterinarians’ MI skills on client Change and Sustain Talk. We recorded VHHM consultancies on 170 Swedish cattle farms performed by 36 veterinarians, randomly distributed into 2 groups: MI veterinarians (n = 18) had received 6-month training in MI and control veterinarians (n = 18) had not received any training. Veterinarians’ MI skills were assessed using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity coding system 4.2.1 and categorized as poor_untrained, poor_trained, near moderate and moderate. Client communication was coded using the Client Language Easy Rating coding system. The effect of MI skills on Change Talk, Sustain Talk and Proportion of Change Talk(Change Talk divided by the sum of Sustain Talk plus Change Talk) was investigated using cross-classified regression models with random intercepts for veterinarian and client (farm). The models also included additional explanatory variables (e.g. type of veterinarian and client’s satisfaction with the consultation). The veterinarian’s MI skills were associated with the client’s Change Talk, but results regarding Sustain Talk or Proportion of Change Talk were inconclusive. Clients of veterinarians reaching the highest (i.e. moderate) MI skills expressed 1.5 times more Change Talk than clients of untrained veterinarians. Clients of general large animal practitioners expressed less Sustain Talk than clients of animal health veterinarians and had higher Proportion of Change Talk. Results indicate that learning to practice MI may be one means to improve adherence to veterinary recommendations and to improve efficiency in VHHM services.

兽医通常以有说服力的形式提供建议，这种风格已被证明会引起遇到心理矛盾的客户（即那些既了解变化又有优点和缺点的客户）对变化的抵制。通过这种沟通方式，兽医冒着违背自己的目的来鼓励客户遵循建议的风险。动机访谈（MI）是一种以客户为中心的交流方法，旨在促进客户改变的内在动力。在MI中，Change Talk代表客户自己的陈述，表示对行为改变的考虑，动机或承诺，并且已证明与行为改变密切相关。持续谈话是与维持现状有关的相应陈述。这项探索性研究的目的是通过调查奶牛兽医的MI技能对客户变化和持续谈话的影响，评估MI在促进畜群健康管理（VHHM）中改变行为的潜力。我们记录了由36位兽医进行的170个瑞典养牛场的VHHM咨询，随机分为2组：MI兽医（n = 18）接受了为期6个月的MI和对照兽医培训（n= 18）尚未接受任何培训。使用动机访谈治疗完整性编码系统4.2.1对兽医的MI技能进行了评估，并将其分类为：未经培训，未经培训，中等和中等。客户通讯是使用“客户语言简易评分”编码系统进行编码的。MI技能对变更谈话，维持谈话和变更谈话的比例的影响（变更谈话除以维持谈话加上变更谈话的总和）使用具有随机截距的交叉分类回归模型对兽医和客户（农场）进行调查。该模型还包括其他解释变量（例如，兽医的类型和客户对咨询的满意度）。兽医的MI技能与客户的“改变谈话”相关，但是有关“持续谈话”或“改变谈话的比例”的结果尚无定论。达到最高（即中度）MI技能的兽医客户表示的“变革谈话”比未经培训的兽医客户多1.5倍。与大型动物保健从业者相比，一般大型动物从业者的客户表达的“持续谈话”更少改变话语的比例。结果表明，学习实践MI可能是提高对兽医建议的依从性并提高VHHM服务效率的一种手段。