Evaluating Treatments for Functionally Equivalent Problem Behavior Maintained by Adult Compliance with Mands During Interactive Play

A primary goal of behavioral interventions is to reduce dangerous or inappropriate behavior and to generalize treatment effects across various settings. However, there is a lack of research evaluating generalization of treatment effects while individuals with functionally equivalent problem behavior interact with each other. For the current study, the severe problem behavior of two participants with developmental disabilities was targeted for assessment and treatment. Results of a functional analysis indicated that for both participants, problem behaviors occurred when destructive behavior produced reinforcement of participant mands . The use of a multiple schedule that alternated between differential reinforcement of other behaviors and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (mands) was sufficient to produce a significant reduction in problem behavior for one participant; the addition of differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors via compliance was necessary for the second participant. Extended treatment sessions, which focused on interaction between the two participants, involved one therapist concurrently implementing each participant’s treatment while they were directed to play with one another (a situation that previously evoked problem behavior). Results show that each participant’s treatment produced low to zero rates of problem behavior even during extended interactions.     

The role of the instrumental contingency in the motivational control of performance

In four experiments we investigated an irrelevant incentive effect based upon a transition from hunger to thirst. Hungry rats were trained to lever press either for sucrose solution or for food pellets before performance was tested in extinction while they were thirsty. Reinforcer-specific motivational control was found in the first experiment in that the animals pressed the lever more on tests following training with the sucrose solution rather than with food pellets. Moreover, this effect was seen only when testing was conducted following water, but not following food deprivation. The outcome of the remaining experiments suggests that this motivational control is not mediated by the instrumental contingency between lever pressing and the sucrose reinforcer during training. In these studies lever pressing and chain pulling were reinforced concurrently, one with sucrose and the other with food pellets, in order to equate the noninstrumental functions of the incentives. Following this training, lever pressing in extinction under thirst was unaffected by the type of incentive used as its reinforcer during training.     

From the Editor Guest Column: Who Was Jack Shand?

Members of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) hail from a number of diverse disciplines, but one theme unites them all: a commitment to studying religion scientifically. While many readers of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (JSSR) are quantitatively oriented, SSSR has a long history of sharing membership with fields utilizing a variety of qualitative methods, including religious studies, anthropology, and other scholarly disciplines within the humanities. As such, SSSR serves as a nexus for the sharing of different research, ideas, perspectives, and methodologies. Our guest “From the Editor” column is about a psychologist who appreciated SSSR and its multidisciplinary approach so much that he became a major benefactor to SSSR after his passing. That person was John Douglas “Jack” Shand, and this is a brief tribute to his legacy.     

Training therapists to work effectively online and offline within digital culture

The speed at which technology evolves, and therefore the speed at which online mental health services evolve and the training required to keep up with them, has become a real concern for the profession. The need for training in transferring face-to-face skills to the online environment has been recognised for some years by leading professional organisations as not only desirable but also essential. In addition, there is an increasing need to keep abreast of digital culture and the type of online environments that clients inhabit. This applies to counsellors and therapists whatever space they are using to deliver services, which may be in the traditional face-to-face consulting room or using tools that enable therapy at a distance, such as the Internet.     

The Roles of Social Support and Self-Efficacy in Physical Health’s Impact on Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Older Adults

Physical illness may precipitate psychological distress among older adults. This study examines whether social support and self-efficacy moderate the associations between physical health and depression and anxiety. Predictions were tested in 222 individuals age 60 or older presenting for help with worry. Physical health was assessed through self-report (subjective) and physical diagnoses (objective). Objective physical health did not have a significant association with depression or anxiety. Worse subjective physical health was associated with increased somatic anxiety, but not with depression or worry. The relationship between subjective physical health and depressive symptoms was moderated by self-efficacy and social support. As predicted, when self-efficacy was low, physical health had its strongest negative association with depressive symptoms such that as physical health improved, depressive symptoms also improved. However, the moderation effect was not as expected for social support; at high levels of social support, worse physical health was associated with increased depressive affect.     

Developmental epidemiologically based preventive trials: Baseline modeling of early target behaviors and depressive symptoms

Describes a conceptual framework for identifying and targeting developmental antecedents in early childhood that have been shown in previous work to predict delinquency and violent behavior, heavy drug use, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms and possibly disorders in late adolescence and into adulthood. Criteria are described that guided choices of targets for two epidemiologically based, randomized preventive trials carried out in 19 elementary schools in the eastern half of Baltimore, involving more than 2,400 first-grade children over the course of first and second grades. Baseline models derived from the first of two cohorts show the evolving patterns of concurrence among the target antecedents. The central role of concentration problems emerged. From Fall to Spring in first grade, concentration problems led to shy and aggressive behavior and poor achievement in both genders and to depressive symptoms among girls. There was evidence for reciprocal relationships in girls. For example, depressive symptoms led to poor achievement in both girls and boys, whereas poor achievement led to depressive symptoms in girls but not boys, at least over the first-grade year. These results provide important epidemiological data relevant to the developmental paths leading to the problem outcomes and suggest preventive trials.     

Training parents as behavior therapists: A review

The following paper presents theoretical, empirical, and ethical rationales for the training of parents as behavior therapists for their own children. Thirty-four studies, ranging from single case studies to reports on large-scale, multi-family training programs, are critically reviewed, with primary emphasis on the nature and extent of parental involvement and responsibility, and on the level of methodological sophistication. Related papers are cited when appropriate. Further research and areas needing theoretical clarification are suggested, in relation to the future and expansion of this type of therapeutic intervention. In addition the implications of such an approach for both a “systems” model of child therapy and a prevention-oriented model of mental health services are discussed.