The reactivity and unreliability of self-recording

Behavioral Treatments for Heterosocial Problems

Three group treatments for heterosocial problems (systematic desensitization, social skills training, structured homework with cognitive restructuring) were compared to an assessment-control condition. Extensive self-recording of naturally-occurring social interactions and roleplayed interactions in the laboratory provided data for the evaluation of treatment impact. Roleplay assessment of social behavior produced effects for repeated measurement but did not discriminate between treatment conditions. Analyses of covariance of daily self-monitoring data revealed treatment differences, but the covariate (baseline level of performance) was the largest source of variation. The importance of person variables or person-by-situation interactions is highlighted; suggestions for future research are discussed.

Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior in Mentally Retarded Adults

Three mildly mentally retarded adults who lived in the community were treated for obsessive-compulsive behaviors. The patients were all males who displayed clothes and body checking for extended periods of time prior to initiation of the study. Treatment consisted of differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior for not exhibiting target behaviors, and overcorrection as response suppression was used when inappropriate responses occurred. Experimental conditions were baseline, treatment, and follow up. This was carried out in a multiple baseline design across behaviors, settings, and targets, using time-sampling and self-ratings of response severity via retrospective analysis of videotapes. To establish a social validation criterion, community members were asked to rate tapes of patient behavior from baseline to the end of treatment. Statistical analyses of these ratings were significant with respect to perceived improvement in appropriateness on the target behaviors. Similarly, on frequency counts, target behaviors and self-ratings of anxiety rapidly improved with the advent of treatment. These gains were maintained at the three month follow-up.

Programming Treatment Effects to the Natural Environment

Four adult females in the moderate to severe range of retardation were compared on two social learning oriented behavioral training packages. Treatment involved self-monitoring, information feedback, modeling, role-playing, and social reinforcement provided in daily training sessions on the ward or in a therapy room, with the degree and time information feedback was given varying across treatment conditions. An analysis of results showed that onward training was necessary for correct performance of target behaviors (e.g., talking too loudly, pestering staff) in the natural environment. Once target behaviors had been decelerated for several days, gains were found to maintain by prompting subjects on the ward, without the necessity of training sessions in the "therapy room."

Compliance and Side Effects of Weight Regulation Groups

Data on compliance to instructions to self-monitor food intake, a common component of self-control weight programs, and the side effects of weight loss in terms of both changes in frequency of social behavior and blood pressure were collected during two weight regulation groups. The procedures used in the groups were standard behavioral techniques emphasizing decreasing caloric intake and increasing caloric expenditure. The self-monitoring data indicated good compliance if subjects were specifically trained in self-monitoring, and somewhat poorer compliance if they were simply instructed, but not trained to self-monitor. Effects of weight loss on blood pressure were uniformly positive, with decreases in all subjects including two whose baseline blood pressures were in the hypertensive range. The frequency of social contacts did not show any systematic change during weight loss. It was suggested that decreases in weight will not necessarily increase social interaction, and direct training in social skills may be necessary.

A Practical Procedure to Maintain Pupils' Accurate Self-Rating in a Classroom Token Program

A procedure to produce and maintain accurate self-rating was examined in a special education class of a children's psychiatric facility. Four subjects completed individualized arithmetic assignments under three experimental conditions in a multiple-baseline design: Baseline, consisting of teacher-scoring; Reinforced Self-Reporting, consisting of self-scoring for reinforcement; and Surveillance, consisting of self-scoring for reinforcement and submission of the completed assignments to the teacher with threat of punishment for inaccuracies. The threat, however, was never actually carried out. For three subjects, self-ratings were exaggerated during Reinforced Self-Reporting, but became highly accurate during Surveillance. The same subjects increased their correct arithmetic performance only temporarily during Reinforced Self-Reporting, but showed a marked and persistent increment during Surveillance. The fourth subject self-rated accurately throughout and increased his correct arithmetic performance during Reinforced Self-Reporting, to persist for the remainder of the experiment. Measures of time-cost to the teacher indicated a 50% savings during both self-rating conditions. Possible explanations for the suppressive effects of Surveillance are discussed.

Theoretical Explanations for Reactivity in Self-Monitoring

Self-monitoring is the procedure by which individuals record the occurrences of their own target behaviors. In addition to providing a source of data, self-monitoring is also used as a therapeutic strategy because it often causes reactive behavior changes in response frequency. Three alternative viewpoints to account for this reactivity are presented. Kanfer's position (1970a, 1970b, 1975, 1977) is that the self-monitoring response leads to self-evaluation and self-administered consequences that alter response frequency. Rachlin (1974) holds that the self-monitoring response cues the ultimate environmental consequences that control behavior rate. In an extension of Rachlin's view, Hayes and Nelson (1977) propose that the entire self-monitoring process (therapist instructions, training, self-recording device, self-monitoring responses) prompts the external consequences that control behavior frequency. This extension provides theoretical parsimony in positing environmental antecedents as well as consequences for reactivity. The extension also best accounts for data in which reactivity is not linked to the occurrence of the self-monitoring responses (i.e., reactivity occurs despite inaccurate self-monitoring, low frequency behaviors, and unused self-monitoring devices). Similarly, this view accounts for the parallel effects produced when monitoring is done by external agents.

Association between sleep bruxism and temporomandibular disorders: a polysomnographic pilot study

The aim of this study was to verify the association between sleep bruxism (SB) and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in a sample of 14 TMD patients and 12 healthy control subjects. All participants were evaluated using a clinical questionnaire, visual analog scale (VAS) for TMJ/muscle palpation, and by functional examination. The experimental group was divided into three TMD subgroups: joint sounds and pain, muscular tenderness, and mixed diagnosis. All participants underwent polysomnographic recording (PSG). A second clinical examination was then carried out to verify the relationship between rhythmic masticatory muscle activity and pain/tenderness on the following morning. The experimental and control groups presented VAS mean scores of 36.85 +/- 23.73 mm and 0 mm, respectively. The presence of SB was neither associated with TMD (p > 0.05) nor with pain on palpation (p > 0.05). Further research with a more representative sample of each TMD subgroup is necessary to elucidate its interaction with SB.

Interventions to increase use of nicotine gum: a randomized, controlled, single-blind trial

Medication noncompliance with smoking cessation pharmacotherapies is a significant problem in both research and clinical settings. This randomized, controlled, single-blind study compared three single-session psychological interventions to increase use of nicotine gum during a 15-day treatment period. A total of 97 adult smokers were randomized to receive standard treatment (ST, n = 31), brief feedback (BF, n = 32) plus ST, or contingency management (CM; i.e., payment for chewing at least 12 pieces/day on 10 of 15 intervention days, n = 34) plus ST and BF. Only the CM condition led to significantly greater average daily gum use (pieces/day: ST, 6.17; BF, 7.81; CM, 10.17 [p values <.05]) and higher rates of compliance (ST, 13.6%; BF, 25.2%; CM, 65.6% [p values <.001]). No differences were observed in smoking abstinence, nicotine withdrawal, or urinary cotinine as a function of treatment. Implications of the present findings are discussed, including application to clinical trials and extension to real-world use of nicotine gum.

Latent Structure of Self-Monitoring

Although the construct of self-monitoring has assumed a central role in the description and explanation of human social behavior, there is considerable disagreement about the performance of the Self-Monitoring Scale, the primary instrument for measuring individual differences in self-monitoring. The scale was originally designed to tap into a single source of variance; however, factor analyses have consistently demonstrated that the scale is factorially complex. Our review of published factor analyses of the Self-Monitoring Scale revealed evidence consistent with several different latent structures underlying responses to the scale's 25 items. In order to clarify the latent structure of the scale, we statistically compared, using the covariance structure model, first- and second-order measurement models suggested by previous factor analyses. We conducted parallel analyses for the original 25-item scale and a recently introduced 18-item version of the scale. None of the hypothesized models provided a compelling fit to the sample data (N= 1,113). The most favorable results were in support of a first-order measurement model with 18 indicators of three intercorrelated first-order latent variables. Moving from confirmatory to exploratory model testing, we were able to improve the fit of the best-fitting model by specifying a fourth latent variable indicated by items with which high self-monitors were expected to disagree. We discuss the implications of these results for the conceptualization of self-monitoring and for the role of factor analysis in the accumulation of knowledge about theoretical constructs.

Reliability and reactivity of self-recording by preschool children

Reliability and reactivity are two important aspects of self-recording which have been studied in school-age children and adults. Little research on reliability and reactivity of self-recording by preschool children is available. The reliability of preschool children as recorders of their own behavior and whether reactive changes (or increases in behavior) occurred as a result of self-monitoring were evaluated. Two types of training in self-monitoring (didactic instruction vs guided practice) were received by two independent groups of 6 preschool children. Reliable self-recording for children ages 4 through 5 was not attained. Reactive changes in the recorded behavior were not observed.

A situational analysis of adolescent smoking

Forty-four adolescent smokers self-monitored their smoking for 1 week. Four 4 hr each day subjects recorded the person, place, and activity associated with each cigarette smoked. Seventy-one percent of all cigarettes were smoked in the presence of another person. Roughly half of those cigarettes were were smoked with peers. A surprising amount of smoking occurred in the subject's own home, suggesting that the smoking of the subjects is accepted, if not condoned , by their parents. The data generally confirm the social nature of adolescent smoking.

Awareness: an understudied cognitive factor in behavior therapy

Taking into consideration the importance of cognitive factors in behavior therapy, this article argues that the role played by awareness has until now been understudied in this field of therapy. A review of the literature concerning verbal conditioning, classical conditioning, knowledge of results as reinforcement, self-monitoring, effectiveness of covert and overt practice in the treatment of phobics, perception of self efficacy, and treatment by habit reversal indicates that awareness is an implicit variable present in each case. A reinterpretation of these areas of research is presented. In addition, when this variable is evaluated systematically, the results indicate that the therapeutic impact of awareness has been underestimated. Some potential clinical applications of this position are discussed as are some new avenues of research.

A more efficient biofeedback procedure for the treatment of nocturnal bruxism

The study describes a noval approach in the use of a conditioning procedure for the treatment of nocturnal bruxism. The effectiveness of the procedure is demonstrated through its application with two nocturnal bruxists in controlled study designs. Subject 1 received several variations of this procedure and the result indicated that using a loud tone which she manually reset after awakening was the most effective approach to this treatment. The second study was designed to compare the effectiveness of relaxation training to the conditioning technique. Subject 2 failed to show any decrease in her bruxing behavior when taught relaxation. However, she showed immediate decreases in both frequency and duration of bruxing responses when treated with the biofeedback procedure. The need for future research in this area is discussed with emphasis on the development of low cost, home treatment units.

Treatment of child abuse: a review of the behavioral interventions

Child abuse has probably existed as a social problem as long as parents and children have lived under the same roof, and in recent years it has received tremendous attention. Most of the research has focused on etiology rather than treatment, leaving large gaps in our knowledge about remediating abuse. Behavioral scientists have only begun to formulate a conceptual framework from which to work. Many theoretical questions are yet unanswered, particularly the question of what constitutes abuse. Burgess (1978) believes that conceptual problems exist because abuse falls along a continuum of parent-child relationships--a continuum that at one end might include verbal punishment (e.g., threats, ridicule) or milder forms of physical punishment (e.g., slap on the hand, spanking), and at the other end include extreme forms of physical punishment that exceed community mores (for example, hitting a child with a closed fist, scalding a child in hot water, torturing or killing a child). Thus, the question-- where does discipline stop and abuse begin?-- faces every researcher who must operationally define abuse. Identifying the consequences of abuse in a child's development is another area of inquiry that remains untreated. Most of the literature is filled with the subjective impressions of professionals speculating that abused children become the juvenile delinquents and the child abusers of the future; however, as yet no longitudinal studies have been conducted that compare the developmental outcomes of abused and non-abused children from early childhood to later adulthood. What if there were no differences? How might this influence our approaches to the treatment of abuse? Answers to these and other questions will take years of study. Increased awareness of the problem of child abuse has led to greater efforts to remediate the problem. Treatment efforts with abusive families are still in the initial stages, but, undoubtedly, information from these early programs can be the foundation for future researchers to formulate new, more effective intervention programs. Future researchers should focus on identifying those aspects of existing programs that lend themselves to empirical study and have led to more successful parent-child relationships.

Acquisition of social skills by mentally retarded adult training assistants

Two moderately retarded adults were employed as assistant trainers with mentally retarded peers who were being trained in appropriate social behaviour. Using a multiple baseline across behaviours and subjects, it was found that the effective aspect of training was participating in and observing training of specific target behaviours rather than attention and social reinforcement for appropriate responses. Acquisition of target behaviours occurred in a short period of time and generalised to the natural environment (recreation hall).

Anxiety as a possible mediator of self-monitoring effects

It was predicted that frequency of undesirable behavior would be correlated with anxiety. A distinction was made between individuals who punish themselves for engaging in undesirable behavior (Reactors) and those who do not (Nonreactors), and the former were expected to benefit the most from self-monitoring. 50 undergraduates were asked to monitor their behavior and anxiety for 14 days. The correlation between behavior and anxiety was small but significant. Furthermore, subjects whose behavior decreased showed the greatest decrement in anxiety. The anxiety level from before to the period of self-monitoring decreased for Reactors but not for Nonreactors. However, during self-monitoring there was no difference in both behavior and anxiety between the two groups. It is possible that a longer self-monitoring period is required for the relationship between anxiety and behavior or additional behavioral interventions are necessary.

Effect of response class on self-monitoring accuracy

The effect of response class on self-monitoring accuracy was investigated in a clinical population. 16 in-patients of a VA hospital self-monitored verbal and nonverbal behaviors in a couterbalanced design. The results supported suggestions of superior self-recording accuracy with nonverbal target behaviors. The implications for clinical use of self-monitoring in assessment are discussed.

Reliability and validity enhancement: a treatment package for increasing fidelity of self-report

This study investigated the effects of reliability and validity "enhancers" on fidelity of self-report data in an analogue therapy situation. Under the guise of a Concentration Skills Training Program, 57 Ss were assigned randomly to one of the following conditions: (a) Reliability Enhancement; (b) Truth Talk; (c) No Comment Control. Results indicated significant differences among groups (p less than .05). In addition, tests of multiple comparisons revealed that Reliability Enhancement was significantly different from Truth Talk in occurrences of unreliability (p less than .05). These findings are discussed in light of the increased reliance on self-report data in behavioral intervention, and recommendations are made for future research.

Self-monitoring in the treatment of nose squeezing and daydreaming

Self-monitoring was successfully used in modifying a patient's undesirable behaviors. The initial unwanted behavior, nose squeezing, was appreciably decreased over a 2-mo. period and gains were maintained for over 2 yr. While self-monitoring also reduced a second disruptive behavior, daydreaming while studying, the onset of abdominal pains forced the termination of this study. The present study, therefore, demonstrated a successful and unsuccessful application of self-monitoring.