The Healthy Rewards study tested the effectiveness of goal setting to encourage behavior change in Latino and African American adults in three northern California counties. Four groups of adults were alternately assigned to receive either 1) basic health promotion and nutrition education without goal setting (control) or 2) the same education with…

Evidence suggests that parental marital discord contributes to the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Few studies, however, have examined the association between parental marital discord and youth's response to treatment. The present study examined the impact of interparental discord on treatment…

Research Findings: This study examined the effects of educators' participation in an in-service training program on the aggressive and prosocial behaviors of preschool-age children. Seventeen early childhood educators were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. A total of 68 preschool children, 4 from each educator's classroom, also…

While the number of children diagnosed with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) continues to rise, the number of research-based methods to meet the needs of this population lags behind. Social dysfunction is perhaps the most pervasive and debilitating deficit for those diagnosed with HFASD. This article presents a narrative review…

Non-classroom settings are often the most violence-prone areas within a school. This study investigated the impact of an interdependent group contingency on the disruptive behaviors of students in grades K-6 in an urban school cafeteria. Nine female noontime aides and National School and Community Corps staff members implemented the Lunchroom…

The effects of a pica exchange procedure were evaluated on the pica of a female with severe mental retardation. A BAB design revealed that the pica exchange procedure was effective at reducing the occurrence of pica. In addition, the pica exchange procedure was effective throughout six increasingly more difficult response effort conditions.…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of wearing a pressure vest for a young boy with developmental delays. An A-B-A withdrawal design was used to examine the relation between wearing the pressure vest and child behaviors during a preschool art activity. Although the data showed moderate variability, no systematic differences were…

Token reinforcement procedures and concepts are reviewed and discussed in relation to general principles of behavior. The paper is divided into four main parts. Part I reviews and discusses previous research on token systems in relation to common behavioral functions--reinforcement, temporal organization, antecedent stimulus functions, and…

New and innovative ways of implementing cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are required to address the varied needs of youth with anxiety disorders. Brief treatment formats may be useful in assisting teens to return to healthy functioning quickly and can make treatment more accessible for those who may not have local access to providers of CBT.…

While only a few quantitative studies have looked at social anxiety and close relationships, this study uses the qualitative approach of hermeneutic phenomenology to explore the meaning of being in a close relationship for eight individuals with social anxiety. Participants completed a written questionnaire with open-ended questions about their…

This project assessed an intervention to improve employee customer service behaviors (correct greetings and closing behaviors). A combination of task clarification and manager-delivered social praise resulted in increased correct greeting from 11.5% to 66% and correct closing from 8% to 70%. The effect was maintained at a 48-week follow-up for…

This review critically examines Transtheoretical Model (TTM)-based interventions for physical activity (PA) behavior change. It has been suggested that the TTM may not be the most appropriate theoretical model for applications to PA behavior change. However, previous reviews have paid little or no attention to how accurately each intervention…

Research begun in the 1960s provided the impetus for teacher educators to urge classroom teachers to establish classroom rules, deliver high rates of verbal/nonverbal praise, and, whenever possible, to ignore minor student provocations. In that there have been significant advances in the knowledge of what constitutes effective classroom…

Background: Persons with intellectual disability often evince challenging behaviours. Efforts have been underway for some time to develop prosocial or positive skill acquisition treatments to address challenging behaviours. However, physical/mechanical and chemical restraint is still commonly used in many clinical and community settings. Such…

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has been identified as the treatment of choice for children with autism spectrum disorders. A common strategy for conducting EIBI is discrete-trials teaching (DTT). There is a demand for research-based, economical, rapid training techniques to teach tutors and parents of children with autism to…