Behavioral Assessment for Pediatric Intensive Care Units1

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to analyze behaviors of staff and patients on a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). In the first study, behavioral observation procedures were employed to assess patient state, physical position, affect, verbal behaviors, visual attention and activity engagement, and staff verbal behavior. On the average, one-third of the patients were judged to be conscious and alert but markedly nonengaged with their environment. In the second study, a member of the hospital staff provided alert patients with individual activities to determine whether a simple environmental manipulation traumatic and unfamiliar environment may result in a decrease of age-appropriate behaviors and an increase in problem behaviors, making good medical care harder to provide and transition to home more difficult (Haller, Talbert, and Dombro, 1967;Lindheim, Glaser, and Coffin, 1972). Despite the importance of the nonmedical problems associated with intensive care, very few studies deal with pediatric populations. Therefore, in referring to previous research the more extensive literature on adult ICU's must also be considered. For example, psychological problems associated with intensive care units have been grouped into four general areas (Kornfeld, 1971): (1) reactions to serious medical-surgical interventions

Use of Descriptive and Experimental Analyses to Identify the Functional Properties of Aberrant Behavior in School Settings

“…Several observational methods have been employed to identify the events having discriminative and motivational influences on aberrant behavior (Bijou, Peterson, & Ault, 1968;Cataldo, Bessman, Parker, Pearson, & Rogers, 1979;Epstein, Parker, McCoy, & McGee, 1976;Strain & Ezzelle, 1978;Touchette, MacDonald, & Langer, 1985). One of the most widely used descriptive analyses is the A-B-C procedure developed by Bijou et al (1968).…”

Ecobehavioral Characteristics of a Pediatric Burn Injury Unit

“…The manner in which observations were conducted was similar to that described by Cataldo et al (1979). Observers coded, for 1 min, the behavior of each patient and individuals interacting with the patient.…”

“…In PICUs, the emergence of nonmedical problems attributable to negative environmental conditions has been labeled the ICU syndrome (Maron, Bryan-Brown, & Shoemaker, 1973;Vernon, Foley, Sipowicz, & Schulman, 1965). In reviewing the literature on the ICU syndrome, Cataldo, Bessman, Parker, Pearson, and Rogers (1979) noted that few observational studies of the phenomenon exist.…”

“…Given the lack of empirical data supporting the anecdotal descriptions of children's responses to PBCUs and the inherent differences between these patient care units and PICUs, we evaluated patient and staff responses on a PBCU over a 6-month period. Patient behavioral demographics are presented and contrasted with the PICU data reported by Cataldo et al (1979). (Hollingshead, 1975), percentage of burned surface area (BSA), percentage of partial (second degree) and full (third degree) thickness burns, and number of body parts burned are presented in Table 1.…”

Hearing the Child's Voice: Their Lived Experience in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

“…Five studies of children's PICU perceptions were based on children's responses, not solely on parent report (Barnes, 1975;Board, 2005;Cataldo, Bessman, Parker, Pearson, & Rogers, 1979;Rennick et al, 2002;Ryan-Wenger & Gardner, 2012). Only the studies by Board (2005) and Ryan-Wenger and Gardner (2012) were conducted while children were still in the hospital but following PICU discharge.…”