Behavior therapy and geriatrics

Behavior analysis and the study of human aging

As the population of older adults continues to rise, psychologists along with other behavioral and social scientists have shown increasing interest in this age group. Although behavior analysts have contributed to research on aging, the focus has been on applications that remedy age-related deficits, rather than a concern with aging as a developmental process. In particular, there has been little interest in the central theoretical questions that have guided gerontologists. How does behavior change with advancing years, and what are the sources of those changes? We consider the possibility that this neglect reflects the long-standing commitment of behavior analysts to variables that can be experimentally manipulated, a requirement that excludes the key variable-age itself. We review the options available to researchers and present strategies that minimize deviations from the traditional features of behavior-analytic designs. Our comments are predicated on the view that aging issues within contemporary society are far too important for behavior analysts to ignore.

Procedural and methodological parameters in behavioral-gerontological research: a review

This article analyzes the behavioral-gerontological research published before 1984. The 151 studies located were classified into three main categories: observation, assessment, and intervention. Each study and each category were examined for variations in the behavioral procedures employed, and in the scientific research methods used to collect and analyze data. The survey indicated several serious problems in the research. Much of the behavioral-gerontological research focuses on institutionalized elderly, and tends to perpetuate a passive, helpless role on the part of the elderly in the treatment process. Less than 20 percent of the studies focused on observation or assessment, and most of these were found to be flawed. The intervention studies were also problematic; the majority of them were of short duration and had only one treatment phase which did not vary substantially during the study period. Most also failed to provide for interobserver agreement, generalization, maintenance, and follow-up assessments. Finally, the implications of these findings for future psychological research with the elderly are discussed.

Psychotherapy and behavior change with the non-institutionalized aged

This literature review discusses therapy with the aged person in the community. The discussion is based on the literature published since Rechtschaffen's review in 1959 [1]. The elderly are not receiving mental health services in proportion to their representation in the population or in proportion to their estimated need for such services. Major barriers to the utilization of such services by the aged are the prejudices of care providers, the poverty of the aged, and the lack of public commitment to the provision of services to this special population. A summary of the literature on the goals, content, and techniques of psychotherapy with the elderly client is presented and supports the conclusion that this therapy is different from similar work with the younger adult only in terms of a focus on different content areas. The potential contribution of behavior therapy to treatment programs for the elderly is discussed.

Behavior modification of geriatric grief: a transactional perspective

A behavior modification program for treating grief in a geriatric patient is presented. The program was carried out in a community mental health netting, and was discussed in light of transactional analysis. The successful application of behavioral assessment and treatment techniques to transactional analysis was demonstrated.