Contingency Management Techniques Research Articles

Psychosocial and combined treatments for ADHD

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common mental health disorder of childhood and results in serious impairment across a variety of domains. The only empirically validated treatments for ADHD include psychostimulant medication, behavioral treatment, and their combination. This article reviews studies of behavioral treatments for ADHD, including clinical behavioral interventions (parent training, school interventions), contingency management techniques, and intensive treatments. Behavioral treatments are shown to be effective in improving the behavior and academic performance of children with ADHD. In addition, studies of combined behavioral and pharmacological treatments for ADHD are reviewed. Limitations of each single treatment (behavioral, pharmacological) alone are described in the context of the efficacy of combining modalities. Finally, directions for future study are discussed. MRDD Research Reviews 1999;5:225–236. ©1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Treatment of Polydipsia Using a Contingency Management Procedure Incorporating a Self-Management Approach: A Single Case Study

Polydipsia is a disorder that has received little attention in the research literature. Treatment has been mainly confined to medical or pharmacological intervention. Few studies have reported the use of contingency management techniques and none have sought to encourage self-management. This study shows how such a procedure brought about a significant change in rates of water drinking in a thirty-one year old man with a mild learning disability.

A review and an implementation of contingency management in flexible manufacturing systems

Abstract The high degree of flexibiliy required in FMS demands greater complexity in the system and consequently incurs a higher probability of a functional failure which necessitates some form of manual restoration. Unless appropriate measures are taken, frequent failures will not only interrupt the operations of the system, but also expose operating personnel to greater risks. Incorporating an appropriate contingency management capability in FMS will enable the system to automatically recover from a failure and continue operating. Greater attention is now given to improving the reliability of FMS using contingency management techniques. A majority of reported contingency strategies for FMS concern means for automatic recovery of robot-based systems. From a general review of known contingency strategies, four basic stages in the development of a contingency management system for FMS are identified and outlined. The framework for a contingency strategy employed in an assembly FMS is also introduced. The contingency strategy embraces fault tolerance principles to restore the system from an erroneous state. The application of the contingency approach to a problem work cell without using additional sensors is also presented. A key feature of the implemented contingency management system is an automatic error logger for continuous monitoring and recording of error events.

Modifying Bedtime Disruptions in Children using Stimulus Control and Contingency Management Techniques

The present study examined the effect of a bedtime management programme which incorporated both stimulus control and contingency management procedures on the level of bedtime disruption in children. Using a multiple baseline across subjects design each of four children (ranging in age from 2–5 years) were sequentially introduced to the treatment program, which was implemented by the child's parents each night. In addition the study sought to determine whether direct treatment of bedtime disruption would be associated with any negative side effects. Systematic observational data revealed that the Bedtime Management Program was effective in reducing bedtime disruptions in all subjects and the improvements sustained during a 2-month follow-up. No evidence suggests that treatment resulted in negative side effects. The implications of the results for behavioural parent training are discussed.

Contingency management in the classroom treatment of long-term elective mutism: A case report

An 11-year-old boy with a six-year history of elective mutism in school was successfully treated with operant reinforcement and contingency management techniques. The plan was carried out by the classroom teacher with a minimum amount of management consultation. Twelve-month follow-up reveals continued maintenance of the verbal interaction indistinguishable from that of other children at school which was set as the criterion for terminating the intervention. The plan was carried out in three stages-relationship-building to develop teacher-pupil interaction into a reinforcing event, audible-response eliciting, and generalization throughout the school building and grounds.

Student Performance and Attitudes in a Contingency Management Course

AbstractGrade performances in a personalized instruction course are compared with those in traditionally-taught courses for students with good, average, and poor academic records. Average and poor students perform much better in a personalized instruction course than in traditionally-taught courses, and good students perform somewhat better. Course evaluation results suggest three factors that contribute to the particular effectiveness of contingency management techniques with average to poor students. 1.) Students tend to perceive the personalized instruction course as requiring a large amount of work, relative to their other courses for the semester, and to match their work input into the course with this perception. 2.) The method appears to produce “self-generated” reinforcers such as feelings of achievement and interest in course content which are unusual experiences for these students. 3.) Aspects of the technique modify poor study habits in a direction that leads to higher grade performance.

Behavior therapy for weight reduction

Behavioral approaches to obesity were reviewed and empirical support for the procedures was evaluated. Treatments were categorized on the basis of a primary focus on the antecedents or consequences of eating behavior. It was concluded that the most effective approach was a combination of antecedent stimulus control procedures supplemented by any of a variety of contingency management techniques. The application of self-control procedures was especially effective. Recommendations were made for the use of contingency contracting and for the sequential application of treatment techniques. The importance of identifying individual differences in responsiveness to treatments was discussed. A research strategy was presented and the results of two studies based on the strategy were described.

Contingent reinforcement of lowered blood/alcohol levels in an outpatient chronic alcoholic

Recently. the proposition that alcohol abuse is an operant behavior and thus functionally related to its consequences has been investigated under experimental conditions. In controlled laboratory settings, in which inpatient chronic alcoholics are allowed access to alcoholic beverages, alcohol consumption has been markedly altered via operant strategies. Monetary rewards (Cohen et al., 1971), the opportunity to participate in an enriched environment (Cohen et al., 1971). and visits to a girlfriend (Bigelow et al., 1973) have been used as reinforcers for decreased drinking. Other investigators (Sulzer, 1965; Miller, 1972: Hunt and Azrin, 1973) have successfully applied similar contingency management techniques to alcoholics in the natural environment. However, failure to control for the influence of extraneous therapeutic variables (e.g., attention-placebo factors, job counseling) together with reliance on self-report measures of drinking behavior seriously limit the conclusiveness of these results. Objective assessment is particularly essential with operant techniques since consequent events must be systematically scheduled upon the occurrence or non-occurrence of drinking. Documentation of drinking in the natural environment is a difficult task since the alcoholic frequently consumes alcohol when he is alone. In lieu of direct observation, blood alcohol concentrations are an obvious means of objective assessment. Such data are most conveniently obtained via breath tests similar to the ones that law enforcement officers utilize to identify intoxicated motorists. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of reinforcement contingencies on lowering blood alcohol concentrations obtained in an alcoholic's natural environment.

The generalization of newly acquired behaviors by parents and child across three different settings. A study of an autistic child.

The generalization of newly learned behaviors to different settings on the part of an autistic child and his parents was investigated by means of a multiple baseline design. Contingency management techniques were taught to the parents while they interacted with their child in a training apartment equipped with observation facilities. In order to assess whether the parents generalized the use of these techniques, data were gathered at their own home. Data were also gathered in the child's school in order to ascertain whether changes brought about in the child's behavior in the training apartment generalized to the school situation. It was concluded that the child's behavior was responsive to the contingencies of each particular environment. Generalization did not occur until the contingencies and stimulus cues were specifically designed to promote a change in behavior in each setting.

The use of contingency management techniques an applied classroom project

The use of contingency management techniques an applied classroom project

CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT IN AN INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY COURSE PRODUCES BETTER LEARNING1

For the contingency management techniques first devised by Keller (1966, 1968) to become a widely accepted teaching method, it is necessary that they be shown (1) to be applicable to general subject matter and (2) to be superior to traditional lecture methods. The present study demonstrated (1) by successfully teaching the material from a standard psychology text. The superiority of contingency management was established by direct comparison of final examination scores from comparable groups taught the same subject matter by either Keller's method or traditional methods. Students taught by Keller's method also rated the course more favorably.

The Counselor as an Applied Behavioral Scientist

The swirl of change—instant history—coupled with contemporary human problems makes it imperative that counselors shed their complacencies and “truths” in order to doubt, question, and examine all that they now do. Counseling viewed as a highly complex, social‐psychological phenomenon demands counselors who are applied behavioral scientists. Our outrageous wordology and one‐method‐one‐technique orientation, along with confused “scientific‐versus‐humanistic” thinking, has severely impeded progress. Counseling should follow from client problems rather than be a predetermined, prescribed, and stylized activity. Social modeling in groups, systematic desensitization, and contingency management techniques are illustrative of how counselors can function as applied behavioral scientists.