H. Richard Waranch

Behavioral treatment of children with recurrent headaches

The effectiveness of relaxation and biofeedback treatment for adults who suffer from headaches is well documented. By contrast, only several case study reports have been published describing these procedures applied to childhood headaches. This report describes the treatment of 15 children, aged 10-17 years, treated in a behavioral medicine clinic by using relaxation, biofeedback and behavioral counseling. At the end of treatment, 8 of 15 children were headache-free and 5 others exhibited a marked reduction in headache frequency and severity. Improvements were then maintained at follow-up. These results are comparable to results obtained when similar procedures are used to treat chronic adult headache sufferers.

Treatment of a retarded adult's mannequin phobia through in vivo desensitization and shaping approach responses

Abstract The treatment of a 21-yr-old retarded male who exhibited a longstanding fear of mannequins is described. A program that shaped approach responses to mannequins of increasing size resulted in 100% approach responses to three different size mannequins during therapy sessions. One training session in a naturalistic setting (shopping mall) resulted in generalization that was maintained 6 months after treatment. A follow-up probe session conducted in the clinic 6 months following treatment showed that approach responses to the three mannequins used in training remained at 100%.

Evaluation of a multicomponent group smoking cessation program

BACKGROUND Participants who had completed a multicomponent group smoking cessation program were interviewed to determine their smoking status and satisfaction with the program. METHODS The follow-up interviews occurred an average of 20 months after entry to the program, with a response rate of 80% (89 out of 111 enrollees). Most individuals interviewed (82%) were able to quit for at least 24 hr; 25% were able to maintain nonsmoking status for 1 year or longer. RESULTS Initial quit rates were comparable for both men and women, but women were more than twice as likely to have relapsed by the time of the follow-up interview. Participants rated self-monitoring as the most helpful of 10 program components, including nicotine fading, nicotine gum, group support, health information, and talks by ex-smokers. Ratings for the program overall were higher than the rating of any individual component. CONCLUSIONS Since earlier studies have found that successful quitters use more coping strategies than relapsers, multicomponent programs offer participants an opportunity to learn a variety of techniques and choose the combination that works best for them.

Banning smoking in a children's hospital: Are employees supportive

This study surveyed 762 professional and auxiliary employees in a large urban childrens hospital to assess readiness for a total ban on smoking. The prevalence of never smokers was 63.1%, former smokers was 21.1%, and current smokers was 15.1%. Among nonsmokers, 83% indicated that a childrens hospital should be smoke-free. The attitudes of former smokers were almost identical to those of never smokers. Less than half of current smokers (43%) agreed with a ban on smoking which suggests some support for a smoke-free setting even among smokers. In multivariate analysis, smokers, however, were eight times less likely to agree with such a policy, independent of age, sex, and occupation. This study suggests that the majority of employees are supportive of a total ban on smoking but that special efforts to help smokers stop smoking may enhance the effectiveness of a policy banning smoking in a childrens health care facility.