Applied Behavior Analysis Commons^™

Efficacy And Efficiency Evaluation Of Real-Time Feedback For Caregiver Training, Elizabeth J. Preas

Theses & Dissertations

Children with an autism spectrum disorder often have deficits in completing activities of daily living skills independently, which then falls on the responsibility of caregivers to assist their child. Behavioral skills training is an efficacious method to train caregivers to implement various behavioral interventions that includes several training components, which can be time intensive. Alternative caregiver training methods that are effective and efficient are needed to train caregivers to implement activities of daily living skills with their child. The present study used two concurrent multiple-baseline across participants design to evaluate the effects of real-time feedback and behavioral skills training to …

Evaluating The Use Of Competing Items In A Multiple Schedule During Reinforcement Schedule Thinning, Scott A. Miller

Theses & Dissertations

Multiple schedules are schedules of reinforcement that are often used to facilitate more manageable rates of a replacement behavior such as a communication response following functional communication training as an intervention for destructive behavior. Commonly, reinforcement schedule thinning involves multiple fading steps that can take more than 100 sessions to achieve therapeutic goals. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate a method for rapidly achieving fading steps in a multiple schedule by including competing items during the extinction interval. Four children diagnosed with autism successfully reached the terminal extinction interval with a ≥80% reduction in problem behavior. Two of …

Personalized Detection Of Anxiety Provoking News Events Using Semantic Network Analysis, Jacquelyn Cheun Phd, Luay Dajani, Quentin B. Thomas

SMU Data Science Review

In the age of hyper-connectivity, 24/7 news cycles, and instant news alerts via social media, mental health researchers don't have a way to automatically detect news content which is associated with triggering anxiety or depression in mental health patients. Using the Associated Press news wire, a semantic network was built with 1,056 news articles containing over 500,000 connections across multiple topics to provide a personalized algorithm which detects problematic news content for a given reader. We make use of Semantic Network Analysis to surface the relationship between news article text and anxiety in readers who struggle with mental health disorders. …

How Actresses Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer And Reese Witherspoon Are Fighting Pay Disparity One Project At A Time, Abbey M. White

Capstones

While working on Steven Spielberg's 2005 miniseries "Into the West," Indigenous-Latina actress Tonantzin Carmelo achieved pay parity with her white male co-stars thanks to a contract clause called "favored nations. Now 15 years later, and in the height of Hollywood's gender parity movement, Hollywood actresses are strategically using the very same clause to chip away at the pay gap. This 7000-word narrative feature explains the historical use of this clause, identifies how actresses are leveraging its power to achieve pay parity on their projects and answers why it's not a one-size-fits-all fix for Hollywood pay inequity.

http://abbeymwhite.com/capstone/how-actresses-like-jennifer-aniston-jessica-chastain-and-lupita-nyongo-are-fighting-pay-disparity-one-project-at-a-time/

Behavior Skills Training To Improve Parent Treatment Fidelity And Generalization In A Feeding Program, Melissa Stiffler

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Feeding problems are five times more likely to occur in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than in typically developing peers (Sharp, et al., 2013). Though behavior analytic protocols have demonstrated efficacy, less research has investigated methods to transfer technology to non–professional caregivers. This study utilized a behavioral skills training (BST) procedure to increase generalization of treatment methods from the clinic to the home environment for three parent-child dyads. Meal observations were conducted prior to treatment to determine baseline rates of behavior, specifics of the child’s food refusal, oral motor deficits, and nutritional needs. Baseline observations were used to develop …

Equivalence-Based Instruction To Teach Single-Subject Designs In Higher Education, Griffin Decuir Williams

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

With the increasing prevalence of online courses and instruction, advanced methods to teach technical concepts for students in higher education are of value. Equivalence-Based Instruction (EBI) is an effective, efficient, and empirically validated teaching methodology. This study developed a match-to-sample EBI protocol embedded in CANVAS to teach four common single-subject designs to graduate students. Results were compared between an equivalence group receiving a reduced-intensity EBI protocol and a group receiving a traditional video lecture to serve as the control. The ability of the participants to generalize the trained relations to novel stimuli was also evaluated. Results indicate that the EBI …

Evaluating Correspondence Between Preference Assessments Requiring Motor And Vocal Responses, Marie Gilbert

Thesis Projects

Current practice is for reinforcers to be determined through systematic preference assessments prior to incorporating those items as reinforcers for behavior change programs. Historically, preference is typically determined by these assessments via a non-vocal response (i.e., subjects touch the item they prefer). It is possible in clinical settings, however, therapists simply ask an experienced learner what he or she “would like to work for” prior to commencing discrete trial training. It is unclear whether answers to these questions would align with subjects’ non-vocal responses in a more formal assessment. The current study compared subjects’ responses during two multiple-stimulus-without-replacement (MSWO) preference …

‘‘The Greatest Teacher, Failure Is’’: Handling Failure In Military Parachute Training, David Bergman

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

The present study examined failure in an extreme setting within a military parachute training course used to better prepare individuals for combat. A grounded theory analysis of interviews and observations led to four interdependent reasons for failure, three mediating factors of how failure was perceived, and eight ways of coping in how individuals handled failure. Two overarching master themes were established of decision aversion where individuals tend to avoid making decisions regarding their own failure in order to minimize guilt and shame, and externalization where attribution is made primarily to causes outside the self in order to maintain a positive …

You’Re The Boss: The Stereotype Content Model As A Predictive Behavioral Tool In Résumé Evaluation Processes, Caylin M. Faria

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Extensive literature has confirmed that hiring discrimination is a persistent problem; less research has focused on the social cognitive mechanisms of prejudicial hiring and its effects on résumé evaluations. The present study evaluated how stereotyped evaluations of minority candidates could be predicted with the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) dimensions of warmth and competence. No published research has demonstrated how SCM group ratings may predict evaluations of individuals and their qualifications for employment. Participants evaluated two résumés for each of five listed job positions and completed a survey packet. One résumé in each pair suggested membership in a minority group: Muslim, …

Childhood Trauma And Early Adult Engagement In Deviant Behavior: A Measure Of Experiential Avoidance And Impulsivity Association, Angelene Green

Honors Theses

Childhood trauma (CT) has been associated with early adult behavioral deviance (BD), as maintained by previous research. The current study examined experiential avoidance (EA) and impulsivity (IMP) as mechanisms through which childhood trauma and resulting behavioral deviance are related. Participants for the study included 588 students of Western Michigan University, comprised of both males and females. The participants ranged between the ages of 18 and 35. For data collection, participants completed an online survey through an online platform. Participants were directed to select responses in accordance with the variables of interest. For the purpose of identity preservation, the survey responses …

I Saw That: Being Observed Reduces Race-Based Shoot Decisions, Sarah S. Kramer, Kaitlin M. Lewin, Allison S. Romano, Brian P. Meier

Student Publications

The shooter bias effect reveals that individuals are quicker to “shoot” armed Black (vs. White) men and slower to “not shoot” unarmed Black (vs. White) men in a computer task. In three studies (N = 386), we examined whether being observed would reduce this effect because of social desirability concerns. Participants completed a “shooting” task with or without a camera/live observer supposedly recording behavior. Cameras were strapped to participants’ heads (Studies 1a/1b) and pointed at them (Study 1b). In Study 2, a researcher observed participants complete the task while “filming” them with a smartphone. We replicated the shooter bias, …

Healing Through Creativity And Creation: Drama Therapy As Treatment For Individuals With Eating Disorders, Hayley Werner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

For those living with eating disorders, intervention and effective treatment can mean the difference between life and death. Conventional treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, forms of talk therapy, and Nutritional Counseling, focus solely on the psychological patterns or nutritional science of eating disorders. Though these treatments are effective for some individuals, there is a gap in treatment options that address both the mind and body as one and appeal to the humanity of patients outside of their disorder(s). Herein lies the power and potential of integrating drama therapy as a widely available treatment. Drama therapy …

Functional Analysis In The Home Setting Of An Older Adult With Neurocognitive Disorder, Emily Norton

Masters Theses

Currently within the behavioral gerontology literature there are no published studies that include a functional assessment in the home setting. The primary goal of the present study was to address this gap by conducting a functional analysis on a challenging behavior of an older adult with neurocognitive disorder in the home. This study occurred in two phases. During phase one, researchers conducted an antecedent functional analysis on the bizarre speech of an 81-year-old female with suspected dementia across four conditions (television on, no interactions initiated; television on, interactions initiated; television off, no interactions initiated; television off, interactions initiated). Results from …

Components Of Mindfulness Training: Impacts On Attention And Affect, Maximilian Fey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literature on mindfulness supports a distinction between two components of non-judgmental acceptance and directed attention. The present research analyzed whether there are distinct differences in attentional capabilities or affect between mindfulness inductions which differed in either including only directed attention or directed attention and non-judgmental acceptance. I hypothesized that the acceptance component of mindfulness would increase participants sustained attentional capabilities relative to a control condition; furthermore, I hypothesized that the non-judgmental acceptance component of mindfulness would lead to significant increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect relative to control. Lastly, I hypothesized that an individual difference measure …

The Effects Of The High Probability Instructional Sequence On Compliance With Multiple Low Probability Instructions, Ma Krishna Francisco Rosales

Theses and Dissertations

The high-probability (high-p) instructional sequence is an antecedent intervention often used to improve compliance with instructions. It typically consists of multiple high-p instructions followed by a single low-probability (low-p) instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the high-p instructional sequence on compliance with multiple low-p instructions and the first low-p instruction in the sequence. More specifically, this study investigated the effects of three to five high-p instructions on compliance with 1, 2, and 3 low-p instructions. Three individuals diagnosed with ASD participated. Results showed that the high-p instructional sequence was only effective for 1 out …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Errors During Conditional Discriminations: Changing Sample-Stimuli Disparity In Delayed Matching-To-Sample Task With Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tiara Rahadian Putri

Theses and Dissertations

Conditional discrimination skill is foundational in teaching many other functional skills in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and error occur during training. Antecedent- and consequence-based intervention are commonly used without the understanding of underlying behavioral mechanism responsible for these errors. A quantitative framework based on choice- and signal-detection analyses (Davison & Tustin, 1978) was used to quantify and categorize errors. Three children diagnosed with ASD participated. The current study used an automated 0-s delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) procedure on an iPad Pro® 9.7”. Four experimental conditions were arranged successively, wherein each corresponded with a level of sample stimuli disparity: …

Perceptions Of Just Deserts In The Context Of Type Of Offense, Kyle Gamache, Matt Zaitchik, Judith Platania

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Preventive detention laws are intended to protect the community while providing continuing offender rehabilitation. The concept of preventive detention frequently challenges the notion of ‘just desert’. With respect to civil commitment, defendants are held involuntarily for treatment beyond their sentencing. In a criminal context, defendants may be held in lieu of a criminal conviction. In the current study, we assessed the public’s level of tolerance for preventive detention. We were interested in evaluating whether and to what extent a “crime hierarchy” exists for preventive detention; i.e., a perception that certain crimes are deserving of preventive detention compared to others. The …

An Evaluation Of The Utility Of The Performance Diagnostic Checklist - Human Services (Pdc-Hs): A Comparison Of Formal And Informal Assessment Strategies, Cherish Chalk

Theses and Dissertations

The PDC-HS is a performance assessment tool that assists in the identification of variables contributing to performance problems among human service employees. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of the PDC-HS as a formal assessment strategy. Specifically, the PDC-HS was compared to an informal assessment strategy consisting of a single open-ended interview question and a single structured interview question. Participants included 40 supervisors in varying positions in the human services industry. Descriptive statistics were used to compare participant responses to the open-ended and structured questions to the results indicated by the PDC-HS. Results suggest that the …

The Effects Of Lag Reinforcement Schedules And Differential Reinforcement Of Alternative Responding On Reinforced Variability And Resurgence, Weizhi Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Differential reinforcement of an alternative responding (DRA) is a commonly used procedure to teach children with ASD more functionally and socially appropriate skills and decrease problem behavior. However, resurgence of problem behavior could occur when treatment integrity errors appearing while implementing DRA procedure. In research, one approach to mitigating resurgence is to reinforce varied alternative responses using a lag schedule. A lag schedule of reinforcement is a method to increase variability in which a reinforcer will be delivered contingently if the response differs from a certain number of previous responses. The present laboratory study evaluated whether reinforced behavioral variability could …

Examining The Impact Of Standardized Fine Motor Activity Selection On Various Fine Motor Skills In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cheyenne Lee Dong

Theses and Dissertations

Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate deficits in fine motor skills, requiring therapies to help improve their performance of a variety of self-care, daily living, and academic skills. Research in the occupational therapy literature suggests several methods of assessing and teaching fine motor skills and represents an area that is understudied in the applied behavior analysis research. The two disciplines may offer a complementary approach to targeting emerging skills, shaping desired responses in naturalistic contexts, and reinforcing participation. This study aimed to examine the impact of occupational therapy-recommended activities on fine motor skills by blending the occupational therapy …

Implementing An Abbreviated Assessment To Compare Error-Correction Procedures For Teaching Intraverbal Behavior To Children, Victoria Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

Young children with Autism (ASD) often have difficulty responding appropriately to questions asked by their peers, parents, or teachers. Teaching intraverbal behavior using Discrete Trial Instruction (DTI) has shown effective results with the use of specific stimulus-transfer procedures (e.g., vocal, textual, or pictures). Previous research has suggested using an abbreviated assessment for error correction procedures as a tool to determine the most effective and efficient procedures when teaching children. In addition, such tools have been shown to not only be effective at predicting a child’s most effective error-correction, but also in less time, allowing practitioners to make data-based decisions and …

Turn That Frown Upside-Down! The Effectiveness Of Opposite Action In Changing Emotion, Kaitlyn Diane Chamberlain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While research demonstrates that opposite action (OA) impacts emotion (Rizvi & Linehan, 2005), we lack an understanding of the mechanisms by which it produces opposite emotions. The current study dismantled emotion regulation skill components by comparing tasks with different combinations of cognitive, emotive and behavioral components. I predicted that the OA condition would be the most effective in altering negative emotion. University students (n = 194) completed a sadness induction and were randomly assigned to either a (1) control, (2) low arousal positive imagery (3) high arousal positive imagery, or (4) OA plus high arousal positive imagery condition. The control …

Playing Isn’T Just For The Kids: The Effects Of Video Modeling On Adult Play Behavior, Grace Fancine Boatman

Theses and Dissertations

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder lack appropriate play skills. To provide quality care to these children, practitioners who work with these children should be versed in how to play. The researchers for the current study used a multiple baseline design across stimulus sets. A pre-experimental assessment, naturalistic generalization probe, and a toy generalization probe were conducted prior to baseline. The baseline phase demonstrated the participant’s performance in playing with a confederate researcher. Task clarification represented the participant’s performance in playing with a confederate researcher after a verbal prompt to play more. The researchers implemented video modeling to increase the frequency …

Effect Of Multiple Operant Training Across Similar And Different Response Topographies, Ashley Anna Felde

Theses and Dissertations

This study compared skill acquisition rates during multiple operants training across similar responses and different responses in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Secondary measures included functional independence of verbal operants and children’s teaching condition preference. Discrete-trial instruction was used during both teaching conditions. An adapted alternating treatment design embedded in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants was used to examine rates of skill acquisition. Results showed that two of the three participants acquired skills in fewer sessions during the multiple operants training across similar responses when compared to multiple operant training across different responses. Two of the three participants …

The Effect Of Social Comparison Feedback On Task Completion In A Human-Service Setting, Curtis Thomas Phillabaum

Theses and Dissertations

There has been much debate over the most successful types of feedback, but little research has examined the use of social comparison feedback. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of social comparison feedback on the percentage of end-of-shift cleaning tasks completed by three behavior technicians identified as exhibiting lower performance. The social comparison feedback consisted of a bar graph depicting the percentage of tasks completed by the individual participant in relation to two behavior technicians identified as high performers. Following the client shift, the researcher shared the graph and delivered vocal social comparison feedback during …

Dispositional Gratitude Moderates The Association Between Socioeconomic Status And Interleukin-6, Andree Hartanto, Sean T. H. Lee, Jose C. Yong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Socioeconomic disparities in health are prevalent and growing in importance as a concern among academics, policymakers, and the general public. However, psychological resources that can narrow such disparities have not been well-examined. The current study examined the moderating role of dispositional gratitude in the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and inflammation risk as an index of health. Participants consisted of 1,054 midlife adults from the biomarker project of the Midlife in the United States. Infammation risk was measured by interleukin-6 biomarker and SES was operationalized by education attainment and income. We found that dispositional gratitude signifcantly moderated the relationships between …

The Effects Of Reinforcement Magnitude On Unprompted Intraverbal Responses To Mands For Personal Information In Adolescents With Disabilities, Rachel Ruthann Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of reinforcement magnitude plus praise on correct, unprompted responding during Discrete Trial Training (DTT) among adolescents with an intellectual disability. Participants were teenaged individuals with an intellectual disability who are able to engage in vocal-verbal responding and can read independently. An alternating treatments design with generalization probes to novel environments and people (using confederates within the research lab) was used to evaluate intervention effects. During baseline, participants were asked each intraverbal question but were not given any prompting or feedback. During treatment, edible items were delivered contingent upon correct, …

Attempts To Reduce Elopement Using Blocking, A Time-Out Procedure, And Differential Reinforcement, Sydney M. Harbaugh

Dissertations

The current study was designed to replicate and extend the results of Harbaugh, Kohler & Malott, 2016, to decrease elopement and flopping by a child diagnosed with autism. The intervention in the present study consisted of a package combining differential reinforcement, response blocking, and a time-out procedure. Following successful reduction in the rate of elopement, a Behavioral Skills Training program was implemented with the child’s family to ensure generalization and maintenance of appropriate walking.

The Impact Of A Multisensory Stimulation Environment Within A Memory Care Assisted Living Facility, Dana M. Prince

Dissertations

The use of Multisensory Stimulation Environments (MSSE) has grown increasingly more common in the United States (U.S.) as a nonpharmacological intervention for Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD). However, typical MSSE designs require a secluded room isolated from outside stimulation and demand direct supervision from the care provider during treatment. Due to projected shortages in the clinical workforce and the population of older adults on the rise, a study was designed to reveal the effectiveness of an open-floorplan MSSE to reduce the demand of care providers during the use of the MSSE while allowing subjects diagnosed with dementia to …

The Effects Of Self-Observation On Implementation Of Direct Instruction Reading Curricula, Katherine Mahaffy

Dissertations

The current study evaluated the effects of structured self-observations on the rate and accuracy of learn unit presentations by graduate student tutors in a reading program. Four graduate students were trained to implement reading curricula using instructions, modeling, and the training manuals for reading curricula. Dependent variables were accuracy of antecedents, accuracy of consequences, and rate of learn units for the lesson. A secondary dependent variable was the rate of contingent social praise and token delivery during the lesson. During the intervention, tutors learned how to record learn units using the Teacher Performance Rate and Accuracy Scale (TPRA) and then …