Quality improvement (QI) is an iterative process designed to make controlled changes within the health care delivery system to provide patients with high-quality care that meets both their expectations and needs. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology (CPPP) is actively soliciting QI studies to further its mission to promote and support the evidence-based clinical work of pediatric psychologists. This article (a) provides a basic introduction to what QI is and how it fits within ethical health care practice, (b) briefly describes the historical context of QI in health care, (c) discusses how QI serves as a complement to routine evidence-based care, and (d) gives guidance for writing up and publishing QI work. The overarching aim of this article is to promote the submission and acceptance of high-quality QI studies to Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology.

During shaping, if the organism is engaged in behaviors other than the current approximation, the amount of time between reinforcers increases. In these situations, the shaper may resort to what is referred to as a “desperation‐driven click.” That is, after a period of no reinforcement, the shaper delivers one reinforcer for a nontarget approximation. Reports from professional animal trainers suggest that the animal may continue performing this new behavior, even if it is reinforced only once. This study attempted to model this phenomenon with college students. Results from the study demonstrated that a desperation‐driven click situation can be reliably produced in a controlled setting. When participants received one reinforcer for interacting with a new object following a period of no reinforcement, they interacted with the new object for a longer or equal amount of time as compared to an object that had a longer history of reinforcement. The results of this study have implications for the understanding of how reinforcement controls behavior.

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Functional analysis data and previous studies on animal training have demonstrated that social interaction with humans can serve as a reinforcer for animals. Yet, some studies have demonstrated that tactile interaction (e.g., patting, petting, or scratching) is less effective or ineffective when compared to food. However, the reinforcement procedures used may account for these discrepancies. The current study investigated whether tactile interaction, in the form of petting and scratching, could be used as a reinforcer to train behaviors to two horses and a mule. First, each equine learned when reinforcement would be available and what behaviors to engage in during reinforcement delivery. Next, a series of shaping steps and a changing-criterion design were used to test whether tactile interaction could be used to shape two new behaviors, stay and come. All three equines completed reinforcement training and met the mastery criteria for training stay and come. These results demonstrate that tactile interaction can be used as a reinforcer to train equines and also suggest that details of the reinforcement delivery process may be an important consideration when tactile interaction is used as a reinforcer.