Johnson, Robert (2014) A Discursive Examination of How Truth is Introduced and Negotiated in Motivational Interviewing. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
This study investigated the claim that Motivational Interviewing therapy (MI) treats truth differently to other addiction therapies. In particular, it explored how an addictions client and an expert MI practitioner jointly introduce and negotiate truth during an MI consultation. Discursive psychology and conversation analysis (DP/CA) were used as the theoretical and methodological framework to study a single therapeutic interaction. Within the DP/CA framework emphasis was given to the situated, and constructed and constructive nature of the discourse in making explicit how descriptions were used in institutional talk to perform certain actions. The research data was an MI training video from the Alexander Street Counselling (2000) collection. Analysis revealed the client constructed his descriptions to manage the stake and interest in his reasons for seeking treatment, and in his current addiction status. Analysis revealed the MI practitioner treated the client’s descriptions in two ways. First, the MI practitioner constructed his replies to stabilise or strengthen the facticity of the client’s descriptions of truth. Second, the MI practitioner did not inspect or contest the facticity of the client’s descriptions. It is argued that the findings of this case study support the claim made about the treatment of truth within MI.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology, Counselling and Community (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2014) |
| Supervisors: | Steve Christensen |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Oct 2025 04:54 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Oct 2025 04:54 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Motivational interviewing; discursive psychology; psychotherapy; truth; facticity; |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52448 |
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