Motivational Interviewing to Promote Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: Evidence, Implementation, and Digital Applications

Ahmed A Bahri Department of Family and Community Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Ahmed A Bahri, Email [email protected]: Chronic lifestyle-related diseases, including poor diet, physical inactivity, and smoking, pose a global health challenge. Motivational Interviewing (MI), a client-centered approach, effectively promotes behavior change. This review examines MI’s impact on healthy lifestyle behaviors and its implications for healthcare practice and research.Methodology: Relevant studies published between 2015 and 2025 were sourced from PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect. Inclusion criteria focused on research evaluating the role of MI in promoting healthy behaviors, while studies unrelated to MI were excluded. The selected literature included diverse study designs assessing both the effectiveness and implementation of MI across various health domains.Results: The evidence shows that MI promotes short-term improvements in diet, physical activity, smoking cessation, and treatment adherence. It encourages healthier eating patterns, greater exercise participation, and higher abstinence rates, while also enhancing engagement in psychological therapies. However, effectiveness is highly dependent on practitioner fidelity and demographic tailoring, with outcomes varying by gender, age, and population needs. Despite promising initial results, long-term benefits often decline due to dropout, logistical challenges, and socioeconomic barriers. Digital and hybrid delivery models offer a potential solution, improving accessibility, scalability, and sustained adherence, and represent an important direction for future implementation.Conclusion: MI is a versatile, evidence-based tool for fostering healthy lifestyle behaviors. Its non-confrontational, autonomy-supportive approach aligns well with diverse clinical and public health contexts. Future research should prioritize scalable digital/hybrid models, strategies for sustained outcomes, and implementation science frameworks to address real-world barriers.Keywords: motivational interviewing, MI, smoking cessation, substance use disorder, telehealth care, chronic diseases