Effects of intermittent punishment on self-injurious behavior: an evaluation of schedule thinning.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0174763 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0021-8855 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00218855 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Appl Behav Anal Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: [Malden, MA] : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: [Ann Arbor, Mich., Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior]

Punishment*; Self-Injurious Behavior/*psychology; Adult ; Ethics ; Female ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability/psychology ; Male ; Reinforcement Schedule

Although the use of punishment often raises ethical issues, such procedures may be needed when the reinforcers that maintain behavior cannot be identified or controlled, or when competing reinforcers cannot be found. Results of several studies on the effects of intermittent schedules of punishment suggest that therapists must use fairly rich schedules of punishment to suppress problem behavior. However, residential caretakers, teachers, and parents often have difficulty implementing programs that require constant monitoring of the client's behavior. In this study, we examined the feasibility of gradually thinning the delivery of punishment from a continuous schedule to an intermittent schedule during the course of treatment for self-injurious behavior (SIB). Results of functional analyses for 5 individuals who had been diagnosed with profound mental retardation indicated that their SIB was not maintained by social consequences. Treatment with continuous schedules of time-out (for 1 participant) or contingent restraint (for the other 4 participants) produced substantial reductions in SIB. When they were exposed to intermittent schedules of punishment (fixed-interval [FI] 120 s or FI 300 s), SIB for all but 1 of the participants increased to levels similar to those observed during baseline. For these 4 participants, the schedule of punishment was gradually thinned from continuous to FI 120 s or FI 300 s. For 2 participants, SIB remained low across the schedule changes, demonstrating the utility of thinning from continuous to intermittent schedules of punishment. Results for the other 2 participants showed that intermittent punishment was ineffective, despite repeated attempts to thin the schedule.

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Date Created: 19970701 Date Completed: 19970807 Latest Revision: 20181113

20231215

PMC1284041

10.1901/jaba.1997.30-187

9210302