Introduction:
Motivating clients to adopt veterinary advice remains a critical challenge to improving animal health and welfare. In the medical and psychological sciences, practitioners are increasingly employing an evidence-based communication methodology called Motivational Interviewing (MI) to promote client engagement in discussions on behaviour change (Miller & Moyers 2017). This paper presents the outcomes of a feasibility study of brief MI training for cattle veterinarians and their dairy clients.

Objectives:
To examine (i) the effect of brief MI training on veterinarian use of MI-consistent and MI-inconsistent communication behaviours and (ii) the effect of brief MI training on farmer change language.

Methods:
Practicing cattle veterinarians (n=14) attended brief MI training and recorded an audio file of advisory communication on ‘any change for the benefit of herd health’ before and after the experience. Anonymised audio files (n=31) were analysed in Noldus Observer 5.0 using the MI Treatment Integrity code (Moyers et al. 2014) to capture veterinarian advisory communication behaviour and the Client Language Assessment in MI code (Miller et al. 2008) to capture farmer change language. Data were analysed using to determine whether communication behaviour(s) altered significantly post-training. 

Findings:
A brief MI training experience led to a significant (p=0.001) increase in veterinarian use of MI-consistent skills, a significant (p=0.009) decrease in veterinarian use of MI-inconsistent skills and a significant (p=0.006) increase in positive farmer change language. 

Discussion:
These data provide essential insight on how veterinary communication styles influence farmer motivation and the efficacy of MI to enhance farmer engagement in discussions of herd health. 



Authors:
BARD, Alison M.1, MAIN, David C.J.1, HAASE, Anne M.2, ROE, Emma J.3, WHAY, Helen R.1, REYHER, Kristen K.1*
1. Bristol Veterinary School, The University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
2. School for Policy Studies, The University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom 
3. Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom