This study demonstrated the effect of training nine lower socio-economic adults participating as policy board members in a federally funded rural community project to make behaviorally defined statements to increase problem-solving behaviors in board meetings. A multiple-baseline design across subjects and skills was used to analyze the behavioral categories of: (1) stating the problem; (2) finding solutions to the problem, and (3) implementing the action to the solution. Problem-solving responses during board meetings increased for subjects following training and remained higher than baseline during follow-up.DESCRIPTORS: training problem solving, adults, rural poor, board training, behavioral community psychology, group problem solving, multiple baseline Applied behavior analysis, which began as an experimental-therapeutic endeavor with individual subjects exhibiting deviant or undesirable behavior (Ullmann and Krasner, 1965) has broadened in scope and application such that the principles may now be applied to solve social problems. The term Behavioral Community Psychology seems appropriate to denote applications to socially significant problems in unstructured community settings where the behavior of individuals is not considered deviant in the traditional sense. Encouraging welfare recipients to attend self-help meetings (Miller and Miller, 1970), reinforcing the picking up of litter (Burgess, Clark, and Hendee, 1971;Chapman and Risley, 1974;Clark, Burgess, and Hendee, 'This research is based upon a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the M.S. degree of the first author under the chairmanship of the second author.

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