Weighing it up

How it works

1. Choose what kind of choice it is: to do something or not (Should I …?) or choosing between two things. Write down your question, or give the two things a name.
2. Write down the pros and the cons. One point per line.
3. For each point, choose how much it weighs for you: small, medium or large.
4. Under How it weighs up you see a pair of scales. The heavier side drops a little. Underneath, it says in words what the scales show.
5. Think about the question What does your gut feeling say? Then print everything, or copy the text for an email or a report.

What the scales count

The scales only count what you wrote down, and how much it weighed for you. One large pro can mean more than three small cons. You decide that, with small, medium and large.

Maybe the scales tip to one side, and you feel that you want something else. Then look at what you have not written down yet, or talk about it with someone you trust.

Together or on your own

Use it when your client is unsure and wants to think out loud. Put the tablet or laptop where you can both see it. As a care worker, you help by asking questions, such as: What else is there? What makes this point so big? And what does your gut feeling say? Print the sheet at the end or copy the text, so your client can look at it again at home.

If you do it on your own, look at it again a day later. Maybe you will think of new points, or something weighs differently than you first thought. Print it or copy the text, because the page does not remember anything.

Where it comes from

Care workers talk about pros and cons in motivational interviewing, for example. That is a way of talking about change. You look together at the pros and cons of how things are now and how they could be.

We came up with the scales, the sizes small, medium and large, and the questions ourselves.

Good to know

• A point only counts once you write something in it. An empty line does nothing.
• Each choice has room for 8 pros and 8 cons. Then everything fits on the scales. One choice fits on one A4 page. Are you choosing between two things and writing a lot? Then it will be two pages.
• If you switch between ‘to do something or not’ and ‘choosing between two things’, what you wrote stays where it is.
• Nothing filled in yet? Then ‘Print’ gives you an empty worksheet to fill in by hand.
• Everything works with the keyboard. Choose small, medium or large with the arrow keys.
• Is your choice about your health, money or a benefit? Then also ask someone who knows about it. For example, your GP about your health, or a care worker about money or benefits.

Source

• Nederlands Centrum Jeugdgezondheid (NCJ), Gesprekstechnieken & oplossingsgericht werken (PDF, in Dutch) (external website), appendix from October 2023. About motivational interviewing. Read on 30 September 2026.