The effects of a token economy program on self-care behaviors of neurologically impaired inpatients

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of a ward-wide token economy program for improving the self-care skills of neurologically impaired patients. The three-month program focused on bed-making, putting pajamas away, dressing, shaving, and tooth-brushing. In addition, the performance of the brain damaged group was compared with that of schizophrenic subjects who participated in the same program. The performance of the twenty subjects—seven with organic brain damage and thirteen with schizophrenia—was analyzed using a least squares analysis of variance. It was found that regardless of disability, the token program was a significantly effective method of improving self-care skills on four of the five tasks.