What kind of questioning can help increase awareness of a client's current level of motivation to change?

• A. Open-ended questions
• B. Leading questions
• C. Rapid-fire questions
• D. Scaling questions

Answer: (D)

This question centers on using scaling questions to gauge motivation. By asking a client to rate their readiness to change on a numeric scale—for example, from 0 to 10—you make their motivation concrete and tangible. This approach invites reflection on what a higher or lower number would require, highlights ambivalence, and helps the client articulate what would move them toward change. That explicit quantification increases awareness of where they stand right now and what factors could shift their motivation.

Open-ended questions can explore why someone feels motivated, but they don’t provide a quick, quantitative readout of the current level of motivation. Leading questions push toward a preferred answer, which can bias the assessment. Rapid-fire questions are too terse to cultivate the reflective thinking needed to assess motivation. Scaling questions uniquely balance assessment with reflective discussion, making them the best choice here.