Do Resident-Induced Motivating Operations for Staff Behavior Carryover to Other Residents?

Abstract

In Applied Behavior Analysis, practitioners often train caregivers and staff members to follow a behavior plan; however, few if any studies have evaluated the motivation of the implementer to follow the established rules. For example, it is possible that needing to provide consequences for problem behavior displayed by one individual under a staff member’s care affects how that staff member provides consequences to other individuals under their care. This study examines staff members’ behavior in Juvenile Residential Treatment Facilities using a reverse translational approach. In this study, simulated staff members were asked to either add or remove tokens following vignettes describing either problem behavior or appropriate behavior. Participants responded to a sequence of behaviors where Resident 1 engaged in four behaviors (some combination of appropriate and problem behavior) and then Resident 2 engaged in one appropriate behavior. The purpose of this arrangement was to evaluate whether the behaviors displayed by the first resident alter the participants’ response to the second resident. The results indicate that there are changes in participants’ responding to Resident 1 following different amounts of appropriate or problem behaviors; however, responses to Resident 2 were not significantly different between sequences. The findings may be used to inform training strategies for caregivers and staff members. Implications for future research are discussed.