A Behavior Management Program to Increase Social Responses in Psychogeriatric Patients

Abstract

Although increased numbers of psychogeriatric patients have been placed in proprietary nursing homes in recent years, many facilities have not been able to accommodate the behavioral problems involved. This study summarizes the results of a behavior management program for improving the social functioning and social behaviors of 6 psychogeriatric patients in a nursing home. The use of reinforcement by tokens substantially improved social behavior over a 10-day period; during a 10-day withdrawal of reinforcement, the level dropped precipitantly; but during the subsequent 10-day reinforcement period, substantial improvement in social functioning again was observed. Four of the 6 patients improved significantly, and after one year could be placed in a higher-level unit of the nursing home. The findings suggest that behavior management programs can be used successfully to improve the social functioning of psychogeriatric patients.

Special Section—Behavioral symptoms of dementia: their measurement and intervention. Keeping wandering nursing home residents at the table: improving food intake using a behavioral communication intervention

“…Sitting at a table during a meal is a clearly defined behavior and therefore an appropriate target for behavior therapy. Although behavior therapies depend on learning and persons with dementia are known to have decreased learning abilities, behavioral approaches have been used successfully with this population (Baltes & Zerbe, 1976;Gugel, 1994;McEvoy & Patterson, 1986;Nigl & Jackson, 1981;Schnelle et al, 1989;Beattie, 1997). A behavioral approach, albeit a stimulus-altering one, was applied with success to wanderers to reduce exit attempts (Hussain, 1982).…”

A Staff Management System for Maintaining Improvements in Continence With Elderly Nursing Home Residents

“…Geriatric assistants have been trained to use token systems to increase activity levels (Mishara & Kastenbaum, 1974) and social responsiveness (NigI & Jackson, 1981) among geriatric patients residing in a psychiatric institution. Geriatric assistants have also been taught to use behavior management procedures to decrease patient dependency on staff and to improve patients' performance of various activities of daily living (Barrowdough & Fleming, 1986;Sperbeck & Whitbourne, 1981).…”