ABSTRACT
Heather and Rollnick's (1993) Readiness to Change Questionnaire directly measures the first three stages of behavior change: precontemplative, contemplative, and action. As part of the St. Louis Target Cities project, an automated assessment procedure was developed to assess individuals seeking substance-abuse services on a variety of dimensions, including readiness to change. This paper describes relationships among the Readiness to Change scales, client self-reports, staff evaluations of psychological symptoms, and other intake assessment measures used in the St. Louis project.
Subject(s)
Behavior, Addictive/psychology , Motivation , Patient Acceptance of Health Care , Substance-Related Disorders/psychology , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Behavior, Addictive/complications , Behavior, Addictive/therapy , Chi-Square Distribution , Female , Humans , Male , Neurotic Disorders/complications , Personal Satisfaction , Quality of Life , Substance-Related Disorders/complications , Substance-Related Disorders/therapyABSTRACT
A survey was conducted to catalog the assessments used by practitioners to evaluate the problem behaviors displayed by clients with mental retardation. Questionnaires were mailed to 300 members of the Psychology Division of the American Association on Mental Retardation. Most practitioners rated functional assessment procedures as extremely or very useful. Indirect and descriptive assessments were considered more useful than experimental manipulation. Findings were discussed with emphasis on the difficulties in conducting functional assessments. These results may be useful for practitioners who are designing behavior training programs and directing further research to improve functional assessment strategies.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Psychology/methods , Social Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Health Care Surveys , Humans , Intellectual Disability/complications , Observation/methods , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data , Psychometrics/methods , Social Behavior Disorders/complications , United StatesABSTRACT
Functional assessment seeks to elucidate the variables controlling a maladaptive behavior. Based on such an assessment, effective treatments can be designed that focus on replacing that maladaptive behavior with a functionally equivalent adaptive prosocial behavior. This technique has been promoted as an effective means of improving treatments by increasing the focus on skill development and reducing the use of aversive and restrictive procedures. The literature for the behavioral treatment of aggression for persons with mental retardation or developmental delays was examined from 1979 through 1990. During that period the use of functional assessment and skill training increased; however, the increased use of functional assessment did not result in the reduced use of intrusive procedures. Potential reasons for these results are discussed, and a call for an increased emphasis on functional assessment methodology is made.
Subject(s)
Aggression/psychology , Behavior Therapy , Education of Intellectually Disabled , Social Behavior Disorders/therapy , Aversive Therapy , Humans , Social Behavior Disorders/psychologyABSTRACT
Observations of direct-care staff behavior were made for 20 consecutive days at various locations in a large state-operated residential facility serving clients with mental retardation. Results indicated that the clients' functioning level, the presence of professional staff, the location of the observation, and the resident-staff ratio significantly affected the activities of direct-care staff as well as the kind of care an individual client received. Recommendations were made for increasing the frequency of desirable client-staff interactions.
