This study was conducted to replicate and extend previous research on infant caregiver behavior by demonstrating negative reinforcement of infant caregiver behavior in response to crying and teaching appropriate care responses under conditions of inconsolable crying. A computerized infant simulator was used to create a laboratory simulation of infant caregiving. In Study 1, participants were exposed to negative reinforcement conditions and an extinction condition. In the negative reinforcement condition, participants engaged in caregiving responses to escape from the cry. In the extinction condition, the cry was inescapable and two of three participants stopped engaging in the previously reinforced caregiving response. Data was collected on cumulative duration of caregiving responses. In Study 2, participants were taught a task analysis of appropriate care responses under conditions of inconsolable crying using behavior skills training. Data were collected on percentage of completed appropriate care responses. Results showed acquisition of appropriate care responses following training.

This study examined the use of shaping with a percentile schedule to increase the duration of the interaction following a bid for joint attention in children with autism. Specifically, the therapist initiated a bid for joint attention and reinforced longer successive approximations in seconds of sustained interaction with the therapist and activity. A percentile schedule ranked the most recent 10 observations and reinforcement was provided if the current observation equaled the sixth ranking. Most-to-least prompting was used if the child failed to meet the calculated criterion. Shaping with a percentile schedule of reinforcement was effective at increasing the duration of sustained interaction following a bid for joint attention, for all participants from an average baseline duration of 13 s to an average intervention duration of 215 s.

In the US over the last few years, approximately 14.5% of households experience food insecurity at some point throughout the year. While studies on food insecurity in the US have determined that household income and specifically income available to spend on food is of critical importance to food security, it is still unclear why some households with low income are able to maintain food security while others experience food insecurity in a pattern characterized as not constant but recurrent. This dissertation compares households with children at different levels of food security and insecurity using the USDA Core Food Security Module (CFSM) and an ethnographically informed analysis of coping in order to understand the differences between at-risk households in order to determine why some fall into more severe food insecurity while other manage to avoid it. Data on food security, demographics, use of food assistance programs, shared cultural models for food, food shopping behavior, food consumption, and measures of depression and anxiety were collected from 207 households. Households at or below 185% of poverty line (n=106) were grouped by food security status--food secure (FS), low food security (LFS), and very low food security (VLFS)--into three groups. The remaining households (n=101) were used as an out-group for comparison. The results revealed that for low income households (below 185% of poverty line) income was not a significant factor for many of the comparisons between FS and LFS or VLFS households. Instead, other variables such as higher stress index score (PSS), younger age of respondent or food procurer, and the presence of a spouse or partner were more important predictors of food insecurity. Households used safety net resources to cope with food insecurity, though as predicted by the literature these resources where used to mitigate food insecurity as opposed to buffer against it. Finally, there were large and significant differences between the three groups in the amount of stress (PSS) and depression (HSCL-10) symptoms measured in the respondents, affirming the relationship between food insecurity and stress that has been documented in the literature. The study concludes by recommending that future research explore the way in which food insecurity and stress affect household relationships because (1) living with a spouse or partner predicted food insecurity in this sample of at-risk low income households and (2) there was some evidence that male food procurers experience more stress than female food procurers.

Abstract Social communication skills play a central role in the developmental outcomes for young children with autism. Due to deficits in social communication skills, many young children with autism develop problem behavior. Providing these children with the right tools to communicate properly may decrease their problem behavior. This study examines the impact of contingency mapping intervention on problem behavior and functional communication skills in three children with autism, using a multiple-baseline design. Before implementation of contingency mapping, verbal contingency was implemented in the first phase of intervention, which was associated with minimal increases in communication skills and decreases in problem behavior across children. Further increases in communication skills and decreases in problem behavior in the contingency mapping condition indicate that the use of the contingency map as a visual aid may be an effective way to augment the effects of contingency instruction.

All youth are faced with many social issues and problems on a daily basis, and youth in foster care are often less equipped than their peers to make good decisions for themselves. The SODAS problem solving method is a component of the Transition to Independence Process (TIP) model and is intended for personnel to use with youth to help them make better decisions when faced with difficult situations. The SODAS method is designed to guide youth through a problem solving method for a current situation, and over time to acquire improved problem solving skills. Three caregivers at a group facility for youth in foster care were trained in the use of the SODAS method using Behavioral Skills Training (BST) and were evaluated by the researchers in their use of SODAS in simulated role plays with the researchers and with youth participants to test for generalization of the SODAS method to novel situations. Results showed substantial improvement of caregiver application of the steps on the SODAS method from baseline to the post-training condition when researchers simulated the youth's role. Results also showed that caregiver proficiency generalized to novel situations presented by youth participants during their role play probes.

Studies on the "Tools" for Positive Behavior Change were originally conducted with people involved in the foster care system. Few studies have conducted the trainings in classroom environments to increase the positive interactions between teachers and their students. Numerous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of behavioral skills training in teaching a wide variety of behavioral skills; however, relatively few of them have shown generalization to their natural environment and maintenance of appropriate responding following the training. Methods of prompting following the initial trainings that have been utilized are often quite intrusive especially when it interrupts the flow of the participants' natural environment. For this study, a multiple-baseline ABC across participants design was utilized to assess the combination of behavioral skills training to teach "Tools" for responding to child behavior with a less intrusive method of prompting in the form of visual prompts that are embedded into the training to maintain the skills acquired following the training.

The purpose of this study was to utilize a multi-component intervention to increase confident water skills for three typically developing children, and to evaluate whether fearful behaviors decreased as the intervention progressed. The intervention, comprised of goal setting, self-monitoring, behavioral skills training and positive reinforcement, was used in community pools to teach basic water skills. Results suggest the intervention was successful in increasing confident water skills, while intervals with positive affect and fearful behaviors demonstrated variability.

Physical activity is important for children as many children are considered overweight or obese. The benefits of exercise have been demonstrated in empirical studies across all age ranges (Horne, Hardman, Lowe, & Rowlands, 2009; Kelly et al., 2004; Louie & Chan, 2003; Southard & Southard, 2006). In the current study, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess the effectiveness of goal setting, reinforcement contingencies, and pedometers that provide feedback to increase step count of 5 participants. During baseline each participant wore a sealed pedometer to assess the average steps the participants took per day. After baseline, each participant, researcher, and parent set a reasonable goal of steps to achieve per day in order to receive a specific reinforcer chosen by the parent and participant. A behavioral contract stated the specific goal number of steps for the day and the specific reinforcer they would receive. At the end of each day before the child went to bed, the parent recorded the number of steps and provided the child with feedback about whether reinforcement was earned. Data collection for four of the five participants showed a mean increase in steps taken per day during intervention 1 in comparison to baseline levels. Participants met their goal step counts during intervention 1 on 12%, 35%, 50%, 71% and 76% of days. All three participants that participated in intervention 2 increased their mean count from both baseline and intervention 1 levels. Participants met their goal step counts during intervention 2 on 62%, 100%, and 100% of days. Two participants participated in the follow up phase of the study; both participants maintained their goals from intervention 2 and completed their goal step count on 100% of days.

Most treatments for substance use disorders (SUDs) are based on a model that craving is a primary cause of relapse, and therefore they emphasize skills for preventing and reducing craving. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) provides a theoretical rationale for "acceptance" of drug-related thoughts and cravings, and proscribes suppression, a more intuitive and commonly used coping strategy. However, it remains largely unknown whether various coping strategies differentially affect craving intensity, drug use behavior, or other relevant outcomes during a craving episode. Using a randomized, between-subjects design (acceptance-based coping, suppression-based coping, or no coping instructions/control), the current study compared the effect of acceptance versus suppression of cigarette craving on outcomes including craving intensity, affect, self-control (i.e., stamina on a physically challenging task), and number of thoughts about smoking in the laboratory, and smoking behavior and self-efficacy for cessation during a 3-day follow-up period. Contrary to the hypothesis that acceptance would be superior to suppression, results indicated that both strategies were associated with reduced craving intensity, decreased negative affect, and increased positive affect in the laboratory, and greater self-efficacy for cessation at 3-day follow-up, compared to the control group. There were no significant differences across groups in smoking behavior during the 3-day follow-up. Exploratory moderation analyses that must be interpreted cautiously suggested that the effects of acceptance and suppression on craving and affect may vary according to smoking rate and level of nicotine dependence. Overall, this study provides support for the value of acceptance-based coping strategies, but also suggests that more research is needed to differentiate their benefits compared to suppression-based coping.

Extensive research has shown that the attentional systems of addicted individuals are biased towards drug-related stimuli, but despite several decades of effort these results have frequently been inconsistent. Though commonly believed to result from addiction and dependence, cognitive research would suggest that frequent exposure to drug-related stimuli could affect the attentional processing of drug-related cues even if no actual drug use occurs. The present investigation examined attentional bias for smoking cues using a novel visual search paradigm amongst smokers currently in nicotine withdrawal and fully satiated smokers, as well as a non-smoker control group. Variables related to smoking behavior, as well as exposure to smoking stimuli independent of drug use were examined as predictors of task performance. Results revealed that participants were faster to detect smoking cues amongst a grid of distracting images relative to neutral cues, but that this effect was not specific to smokers. No consistent pattern emerged when smoking cues were used as distractors, indicating that attentional bias mainly operated to facilitate initial orienting to smoking cues on this task. Smoking-behavior variables were not associated with task performance. However, the amount of environmental exposure to smoking stimuli was strongly associated with performance, independent of smoking status. As environmental exposure has not been directly assessed in prior research on attentional bias, this raises questions about the interpretation of previous findings including the notion that it accurately taps constructs directly related to drug dependence. Future research should determine if exposure serves as an equally powerful predictor across traditional measures of attentional bias. If so, theoretical work should be reformulated to account for the notion that attentional bias may not develop as a result of addiction, though may still play a role in maintaining addictive behavior.