Content area
Abstract
The present study examined the merit of Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors (DRO) in the suppression of aggressive behavior for groups of retarded women in an institutional setting. Its importance stems from the need to develop a ward management strategy that is effective, that minimizes the occurrence of negative side-effects, that is easily implementable by care staff deliverers, and that meets the criterion of a least restrictive alternative because it is based on reinforcement principles: reinforcement occurs at the end of an interval in which a zero rate of responding of the target behavior is attained.
In the present study the effects of signaled DRO and DRO alone for reducing aggressive responses were examined for two housing units (N = 12 and N = 15). Both groups included subjects on psychoactive medication and non-medicated subjects. An ABAB' treatment design counterbalanced for each group was implemented mornings for a 35-day period. Continuous baseline observations were recorded each evening.
Using an a priori template analysis anc calculation of percentage rates of change, the results were shown to exceed the predicted rates of 20% (DRO alone) and 25% (signaled DRO) for reduction in aggressive responding, confirming two hypotheses. Specifically, reduction rates were 61.46 and 40.22 percent for DRO alone, and 77.52 and 91.6 percent for signaled DRO. Contrary to hypothesis, generalization to the evening time periods was observed. The effectiveness of the DRO treatments were not impaired by the factor of psychoactive medication, and differences were observed between psychoactives and non-psychoactives.
It was concluded that DRO, especially signaled DRO, is effective in suppressing aggressive responses for groups of retarded individuals and thus has utility as a ward management technique.
