

- Advice and Guidance – New Modern Paradigms
Advice and Guidance – New Modern Paradigms
Part One: Defining Advice and Guidance
'Advice and guidance' refers to a very large spectrum of helping
social activity and contact, of which there can be no one fixed
definition. The historical context and texts covering the social
conditions and practice of advice and guidance are in constant
flux, particularly in the twentieth century.
MI "steers clear of the both the hard and soft approach", either
being overly-directive and strongly representing the court's
authority, or defending the probationer even when court order
violations occur (Clark et al. 2006:43). Fundamentally, MI has no
concept of "unconditional empathy", but instead forces an
'improving contradiction' on the client, through his or her own
analysis.
The evidence-based practice (EBP) of MI, along with a MI Skills
Code for assessing educators and in particular patient-educator
interactions, places the concept of MI itself on a more empirical
basis, with the testing of good practice an intrinsic merit. As
well, having EBP as a central tenet places MI within the management
culture of the NHS (and the dominant political culture), meaning MI
may graft more readily to the NHS rather than a more tendentious
'person-centred approach', without EBP feedback processes.
Indeed, "a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised
controlled trials show that motivational interviewing in a
scientific setting outperforms traditional advice given in the
treatment of a broad range of behavioural problems and diseases."
(Rubak et al. 2005: 306).