Abstract
MI stands for Motivational Interviewing, the Swedish translation of MI is Motiverande Samtal. Adolescence is a period in life when challenges are encountered and pivotal choices are being made. It is during this period adolescents form their lifestyle, which have an impact for their health for the rest of their life. MI has shown to be an effective and appropriate method for school nurses within school health care, to utilize in approaching by adolescents with risk behavior. This is because it gives adolescence to take responsibility and empowers them to make decisions regarding lifestyle-changes. The purpose of the study was to map school nurses use of MI in the counties of Västmanland and Södermanland. The method was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The study was conducted as a web survey with quantitative approach. The study was a census as it was addressed to all school nurses in secondary school in the counties of Västmanland and Södermanland. Thirty-eight out of 117 school nurses answered 21 multiple-choice questions on the web. The results showed that the group of school nurses thought that MI was a good method to use in a school environment. The method worked as a tool for both school nurses and adolescents in their change process concerning risk behavior and lifestyle change. The majority of school nurses used the method in some way or another, but they lacked education, time and training.
Keywords: Motivational Interviewing, school nurse, adolescent, prevention, risk behavior, school health and quantitative design.