Encouraging electricity savings in a university residential hall through a combination of feedback, visual prompts, and incentives

This experiment investigated the combined use of visual prompts, daily feedback, and rewards to reduce electricity consumption in a university residential hall. After a 17-day baseline period, the experimental intervention was introduced in the intervention hall, and no change was made in the control hall. Energy usage decreased in the intervention hall, but energy usage did not change appreciably in the control hall. In the intervention hall, mean daytime and nighttime savings were 16.2% and 10.7%, respectively, compared to savings of 3.8% (day) and 6.5% (night) in the control hall.     

Effects of a handwashing intervention package on handwashing in preschool children

Young children who attend out‐of‐home care (e.g., preschool) are more susceptible to infections than children who do not attend out‐of‐home care. Previous research suggests handwashing is effective in reducing risk of infection and illness. However, research suggests that individuals do not routinely wash their hands using methods that healthcare agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have determined best practice. We evaluated the effects of a multicomponent handwashing intervention package on correct handwashing across groups of preschool children. Furthermore, we measured the degree to which their hands were clean using premeasures and postmeasures. Results suggest the intervention package was effective at increasing both correct handwashing and cleanliness of participants' hands.     

Increasing following headway with prompts, goal setting, and feedback in a driving simulator

We evaluated the effects of prompting, goal setting, and feedback on following headway of young drivers in a simulated driving environment and assessed whether changes produced in following headway were associated with reductions in hard braking when drivers were and were not using cell phones. Participants were 4 university students. During baseline, drivers spent half of the time talking on cell phones while driving. At the start of the intervention, drivers were prompted to increase following headway while on the cell phones and were provided a specific target for following headway. Drivers were given feedback on increasing following headway when on cell phones at the end of each session. The intervention package was associated with an increase in following headway and a decrease in hard braking when participants were on and off the cell phones. Cell phone use did not affect any of the measures.     

Increasing handwashing in young children: A brief review

Personal hygiene is critical for preventing the spread of infection. One important component of personal hygiene is handwashing. This review summarizes research on behavioral strategies to address handwashing in children, offers areas for additional research, and suggests a treatment package to teach handwashing to young children.     

Comparing the effects of echoic prompts and echoic prompts plus modeled prompts on intraverbal behavior

We compared strategies to teach vocal intraverbal responses to an adolescent diagnosed with autism and Down syndrome. One strategy involved echoic prompts only. The second strategy involved an echoic prompt paired with a modeled prompt in the form of sign language. Presenting the modeled prompt with the echoic prompt resulted in faster acquisition of correct responding. Results are discussed in terms of using functional stimulus classes to facilitate vocal intraverbal acquisition with learners who have a history of sign language training.     

The effects of perceived social norms on handwashing behaviour in students

Handwashing is widely considered the most effective method of preventing the spread of infectious illness. Exploring the determinants of handwashing is vital to the development of interventions to increase this behaviour. A survey based on Social Norms Theory assessed handwashing frequency and perceptions of peer handwashing in 255 university students. Participants reported their own handwashing frequency, and how often they thought their peers washed their hands in particular circumstances, to determine whether misperceptions around handwashing exist, and whether these influence the behaviour of individuals. Gender was found to be a significant determinant of handwashing frequency as females reported washing their hands significantly more often than males. Participants also believed they washed their hands significantly more frequently than their peers. Perceived peer handwashing frequency was significantly correlated with participants’ own behaviour. This effect was seen in overall handwashing and in food, waste and illness-related hand washing. These results suggest perceived social norms around hand washing have a clear association with individual behaviour. Future research might test the effectiveness of a social norms intervention in other settings which carry an increased risk of infection spread.     

Increasing driver yielding and pedestrian signaling with prompting, feedback, and enforcement

The effects of an intervention package on drivers' yielding to pedestrians and on pedestrians' signaling their intention to cross the street were assessed using a multiple baseline design. The intervention, which consisted of publicly posted feedback on the percentage of motorists yielding to pedestrians, small signs prompting pedestrians to engage in appropriate crossing behavior, and an enforcement program involving the use of warning tickets and feedback fliers, was sequentially introduced on two streets. The intervention more than doubled the percentage of motorists yielding to pedestrians and increased the percentage of pedestrians signaling their intention to cross the street to over 13% from a baseline level of less than 1%. Near misses involving pedestrians decreased by more than 50% on the narrower of the two streets.     

The effectiveness of contingency-specific and contingency-nonspecific prompts in controlling bathroom graffiti

This study replicates and extends the work of Watson (1996) in which a sign eliminated graffiti when posted on bathroom walls. The present study investigated the effects of three different signs on walls in six men's bathrooms located on a university campus. Posting the signs was followed by the elimination or sharp reduction of graffiti. Removal of the signs was followed by a resurgence of graffiti.     

Increasing safety-belt use in Spanish drivers: a field test of personal prompts

A variation of the ABAB experimental design was used to assess the impact of a verbal prompt on safety-belt use for those traveling by urban roads and highways in Spain. The personal prompt resulted in an increase (29.6%) in safety-belt use among drivers traveling on urban roads. This research shows that the impact of personal prompts can be generalized to cultures outside the United States.     

Increasing designated driving with a program of prompts and incentives

Designated driving (DD) is a potentially viable but underutilized component of efforts to reduce driving while intoxicated. A reversal design was used to evaluate the effects of prompts and incentives in a bar on the frequency of DD. The results showed an approximate doubling of the number of designated drivers during the two intervention periods.     

The impact of verbal prompts on child safety-belt use in shopping carts

Each year thousands of children are injured by falling from shopping carts. Buckling children into the seats of shopping carts could prevent many of these injuries. A combined reversal and multiple baseline across settings design was used to evaluate the impact of verbal prompts on shopping cart safety-belt use in two stores. Safety-belt use increased following implementation of the verbal prompt. This study extends the literature on the efficacy of verbal prompting in the promotion of safety-belt use.     

Brief training to promote the use of less intrusive prompts by nursing assistants in a dementia care unit

We evaluated the efficacy of a brief staff-training procedure to increase the use of graduated prompting by 2 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) while they helped to dress 3 persons with dementia in a seven-bed dementia care unit. The multiple baseline design across participants showed that CNAs dressed residents with minimal resident involvement during baseline observations. Following brief in-service training, CNAs provided graduated prompts and praise appropriately, suggesting that CNAs can promote active involvement in personal care routines by older adults with dementia.     

Long-term benefits of prompts to use safety belts among drivers exiting senior communities

Senior drivers are vulnerable to automobile crashes and subsequent injury and death. Safety belts reduce health risks associated with auto crashes. Therefore, it is important to encourage senior drivers to wear safety belts while driving. Using a repeated baseline design (AAB), we previously reported that motivating signs boosted safety belt usage by drivers exiting senior communities from baseline (72% and 68% usage), to postinstallation of signs (94%), to 6 months follow-up (80%). The current study was a 4-year follow-up in which six senior communities, with seat belt signs, were compared to six matched control senior communities with no signs. Safety belt usage was stable, across 4 years, at approximately 80% for both male and female drivers and front seat passengers for the six communities with signs, and was approximately 55% for control sites. These finding suggest that the simple and low-cost intervention of erecting signs to prompt safety belt use has persistent benefits that affect driver and passenger behavior alike.     

An evaluation of textual prompts and generalized textual instruction‐following

The benefit of permanent prompts depends on the extent to which their use is generalized. Previous research has demonstrated both control by and efficacy of pictorial prompts (e.g., Phillips & Vollmer, 2012). The present studies similarly evaluated stimulus control by textual prompts. Six school aged children with intellectual disabilities were taught to complete four 5‐step instructional sets under the control of textual prompts. All 6 subjects showed some generalization to the final set. The results suggest that training served 1 of 3 purposes: (a) established control by the textual prompts or the ordinal sequence thereof, (b) addressed a reading deficit, or (c) addressed the lack of a motivating operation during baseline. Training a single task sequence may not be sufficient for acquisition of generalized textual instruction‐following. However, establishing appropriate stimulus control by the textual prompts may facilitate acquisition of a generalized repertoire.     

Using concurrent reinforcement schedules and prompts to produce varied manding: A replication of Seaver and Bourret (2020)

Deficits in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior or interests are displayed by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Given this, individuals with ASD may engage with a limited variety of reinforcers. Treatments designed to modify the distribution of manding may allow individuals to contact a broad array of reinforcers that could improve the quality of life for individuals with ASD (Seaver & Bourret, 2020). The purpose of the current study was to replicate the results of Seaver and Bourret (2020) by evaluating the effects of manipulating concurrent schedules of reinforcement, alone and with prompts, on the rates of target manding in three boys with ASD, aged 7–9 years, in the United Arab Emirates. All three participants showed increased target manding following intervention. The findings support the use of concurrent reinforcement schedules and prompts as an effective intervention to produce varied manding.     

Effects of textual prompts and feedback on social niceties of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in a simulated workplace

Previous research demonstrates the efficacy of behavioral skills training with a textual prompt to establish greetings and conversational skills. This study examined the efficacy of a brief intervention of textual prompts with performance feedback for increasing social niceties of adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder in a simulated workplace. Target social niceties included “Do you have a minute?” when a participant initiated an interaction and “Thank you for your time” when a participant ended the interaction. Results revealed this intervention was effective for 7 of 9 participants. This study expands upon previous studies by showing the efficacy of a resource-efficient training on acquisition and generalization of social niceties by people with autism spectrum disorder.     

The effects of advance stop lines and sign prompts on pedestrian safety in a crosswalk on a multilane highway

The effects of specific signs and stop line bars designed to influence motorists to stop further back from the crosswalk when yielding right of way to pedestrians were evaluated using a reversal design. The introduction of the prompt and stop line reduced motor vehicle—pedestrian conflicts (near collisions) by almost 80%. This finding was replicated in a second experiment the following year on two streets using a multiple baseline design. The use of the advance stop line is now being incorporated by the Provincial Department of Transportation for marking crosswalks on multilane streets.