Curtis J. Braukmann

An Analysis of a Selection Interview Training Package for Predeunquents At Achievement Place

chievement Place is a small, family-style behavior modification program for adolescents with behavior problems. The boys placed in Achievement Place by the Juvenile Court have typically had many problems in school. Although their academic performance usually improves as a result of the program, it seems unlikely that many of the boys will be furthering their formal educations once they have completed high school. This fact makes it probable that most of them will at least initially be competing in the unskilled job market to

Behaviorally Based Group Homes for Juvenile Offenders

Perhaps the most systematic, and certainly the most long-lived and widely disseminated, application of the behavioral approach with juvenile offenders has been in the context of group homes. Research and development based on behavioral principles and procedures began at the University of Kansas in the late 1960s and continues to the present to establish and refine an effective, consumer-preferred, and replicable group home treatment model. Because that model—the Achievement Place or Teaching-Family model (Wolf, Phillips, & Fixsen, 1972)—has been the focal point of almost all of the behavioral research and development concerning group homes, this chapter will concentrate on that model. Following a summary of the results of evaluation research on the Teaching-Family approach, the chapter concludes with a discussion of how evaluation results have prompted major reconsideration of the original assumptions of the approach.

Work environment in relation to employee job satisfaction in group homes for youths

Group home programs for youths were investigated in order to: (a) measure employment longevity in four occupational groups employed in group home treatment settings, (b) report current working conditions and job satisfaction levels, and (c) compare relationships between the group home work environment and employee job satisfaction. Subjects included 57 current and 51 former administrative/treatment employees from 26 participating group homes in Kansas. Several differences were found among four different occupational groups in employee longevity, work environment and satisfaction levels. Length of employment was longest for teaching-parents, followed respectively by houseparents, directors, and other employees. Eight significant work environment differences and five job satisfaction differences were reported among the four groups. Fourteen significant correlations were reported between work environment variables and job satisfaction ratings. A regression analysis reported significant predictors of two “overall” job satisfaction ratings. The research suggested that (1) group home employees have short tenures, (2) the different occupational groups have differing job satisfaction levels, (3) better working conditions are related to higher job satisfaction ratings, and (4) employee contact with the youths is related inversely to improvements in job satisfaction.

A Comparison of Treatment Environments in Community-Based Group Homes for Adolescent Offenders

Evaluations of community-based programs for delinquents have usually addressed differential outcomes or cost-efficiency, but generally ignored the treatment environments themselves. Yet milieu characteristics are important in assessing treatment quality. The present research examined several environmental dimensions in 11 group home programs. Teaching-Family programs scored significantly higher on observational and self-report measures of staff-youth relationships and interactions, staff teaching activities and disapproval of deviance, the family-likeness and pleasantness of the program atmosphere, and the extent of prosocial behavior displayed by the participants. Several of the measures were significantly negatively correlated with self-reported delinquency. The results suggest that, contrary to some stereotypes, behavioral programs can be pleasant, positive, and familylike while offering structured treatment.

Developing and transferring behavioral technologies for children and youth

Abstract Behavioral researchers have developed a variety of technologies for improving the capacities of children and their caregivers. Despite the availability of behavioral technologies for children and youth, their widespread adoption and sustained use has been limited. Characteristics for appropriate (e.g., sustainable, effective) technologies for children and youth are suggested here, and strategies for research and development of these methods are described. This paper outlines the process of transferring behaviorial technologies including the phases of awareness, interest, assessment, trial, implementation, maintenance, and reinvention. Finally, issues implicit in the process of transferring behavioral technologies for children and youth are discussed.

The Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis for Crime and Delinquency

Understanding how applied behavior analysis pertains to crime and delinquency requires more than familiarity with the conceptual system of contemporary behaviorism or with the basic principles of behavior, or with specific behavioral procedures and programs. That understanding requires appreciation of a set of specific dimensions that reflect both a scientific concern with empirical analysis and humanistic considerations regarding improved personal and social conditions of daily life. More specifically, these dimensions represent a means for interweaving contemporary behaviorism, basic behavior principles, and applied behavioral procedures and programs with theory and practice in crime and delinquency. Finally, the dimensions present useful criteria for evaluating a wide range of correctional interventions, from traditional clinical therapy to large-scale program implementations, whether those interventions are behavioral in nature or not. In describing the dimensions of applied behavior analysis in this chapter, we hope to provide unifying themes for the behavioral applications presented throughout the rest of this book.

An Introduction to Contemporary Behaviorism

Behavioral psychology has its roots in the philosophical and psychological traditions of the ancient Greek civilization, was nurtured by the Renaissance and scientific revolution, and emerged finally as a formal system of psychology in the early decades of this century. Since its emergence, behaviorism has grown in several directions, the modern product we refer to as “contemporary behaviorism” (see Day, 1980). In contrast to this long-standing tradition, the development of the behavioral approaches to crime and delinquency is of relatively recent origin, having begun both in theory and in practice in the mid-1960s (e.g., Burgess & Akers, 1966; Jeffery, 1965; Schwitzgebel, 1964; see Morris, 1978). Thus, their philosophical and psychological lineage aside, the behavioral approaches to crime and delinquency represent only about 20 years of systematic conceptual and empirical development—a brief span of time in the history of science. To put it another way, they have a long history but a short past (cf. Ebbinghaus, 1908, p. 1).

Procedures for developing training programs in large-scale settings

When applied behavior analysis training programs designed for individual and small groups are adapted for use with larger systems such as institutions, there is usually not a smooth transition from small to large scale implementation. To date, procedural considerations for minimizing problems involving implementation of behavior analysis training programs have received little attention. In an effort to provide recommendations for implementing a behavior analysis training program at an institutional, large scale level, a study was conducted to develop procedures for dealing with some of the problems encountered when a small training program is modified for use on a larger scale. As the basis for these recommendations, an assessment was made of a staff interaction problem in a larger institution. A series of program development and evaluation steps were implemented. The results were discussed in terms of the advantages and disadvantages of the procedures.

CONSIDERING THE PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE: A REPLY TO CUMMINGS

Cummingss 1985 response to our prior article suggests that the American Psychological Association was justified in not adequately describing or qualifying medical-cost-offset research findings, because the “preponderance of evidence” in the over-all literature is “quite persuasive.” We argue in return that ones willingness to accept a body of evidence as persuasive does not excuse one from providing important qualifications for findings, especially when significant threats to validity exist. We question whether the evidence is indeed persuasive. A review of the evidence suggests that the potential for serious regression and selection biases is not limited to the studies described in the APA document. Cummings acknowledges that studies of offset have weaknesses but argues that collectively they provide evidence analogous to that establishing a causal link between smoking and disease. On the contrary, as we describe, the evidence linking smoking and disease is vastly stronger. We do not find compelling the analogy pairing the Surgeon Generals conclusion about smoking with a government agencys report concluding that psychological care reduces medical costs. We appreciate that one would not want to use a no-treatment control group in the kind of research Cummings is currently conducting, but there may be alternative, quasi-experimental designs which allow testing for absolute effects while controlling for possible regression.