In a study of aversive control of smoking behavior, subjects were randomly assigned to rapid smoking, excessive smoking, or control conditions. Overall, there was a statistically reliable treatment effect, according to measures of percentage reductions in smoking and subjects maintaining total abstinence. However, this treatment effect had…

Assessed posttreatment functioning of 429 alcoholic patients selected from five different types of treatment facilities. Substantial improvement in three areas of functioning (drinking, occupational, and psychological) occurred among patients in each program, although there were significant differences among programs in level of functioning at…

The abstinence violation effect (AVE) proposed in Marlatt and Gordon's model of smoking relapse was operationalized as a combination of internal, stable, and global causal attributions for smoking following the attainment of abstinence from smoking. Smoking cessation program participants who relapsed following a slip reported significantly higher…

Examined relationship between baseline adherence and attrition among families involved in a children's weight-loss program. Evaluated overall baseline adherence by the degree of families' completion of food intake and activity records. Anything but high adherence during baseline was predictive of dropout, suggesting that this is a useful index for…

The author describes the development of a pet therapy program at a rehabilitation unit of a hospital. She discusses documentation of the success of pet therapy programs, picking out the right pets, responsibilities of caring for the pet, training the pet, patient response, and program policies. (CT)

Cognitive behavior modification (CBM), Direct Instruction (DI), and holistic approaches to the education of students with learning disabilities are compared for purposes of identifying similarities and differences in instructional practice. Comparative discussions are organized around four distinctions: specific vs. general, bottom-up vs.…

Compared two teacher stress management techniques, collaborative behavior consultation (CBC) and relaxation training. Analyses of perceived teacher stress levels before intervention, after intervention, and at the follow-up assessment period revealed greater maintenance of effectiveness for the CBC group than for a control group. Such an ongoing…

The article reports the methodology and results of a two-year program evaluation effort to determine effectiveness of an early intervention program for disabled infants and preschool children. Overall, the results indicated the intervention program had a positive impact on participating children and their parents. (Author/CL)

A review of 17 studies on tutoring behaviorally disordered students revealed that tutoring can have a positive effect on both the tutor's and the tutee's academic achievement and can increase social relations of the tutoring dyad as well as attitudes toward content area. However, ancedotal reports of improved general social functioning, are not…

Examined the impact of a Family Reunion Program which allows inmates ineligible for furlough to have an extended family visit. Results suggested the program has a positive impact on encouraging inmates who were originally disapproved for participation due to disciplinary infractions to improve their institutional behavior. (JAC)

Compared the effectiveness of behavioral (BT) or physical therapy (PT) for treating chronic low back pain (CLBP), for 13 BT patients and 12 PT patients. Treatments were conducted in a group outpatient setting. Posttreatment results showed general improvement for patients in both groups, but few treatment-specific differences in outcome measures.…

A review of traditional (such as psychotherapy) and behavioral approaches (such as self-monitoring and reinforcement) to obesity treatment of mentally retarded students led to the conclusion that the behavioral orientation was more successful. Implications for initiating such programs include thorough training, voluntary participation, and parent…

Reports outcome measures obtained from patients, therapists, and clinical observers in the Penn Psychotherapy Project. The relationship between residual gain score and ratings of benefits suggest that posttreatment ratings of outcome take account of the fact that amount of change to be expected depends on initial level of functioning. (Author)

Reviews recent experimental studies of social learning therapies for drug abuse and examines the relationship between attention to generalization or maintenance issues and other factors. The behavior modification-behavior therapy literature exhibits consistent deficiencies in its clinical procedures for and methodological approach to…

Subjects (N=20) participated in a smoking-reduction program that attempted to assess the initial effectiveness of a rapid-smoking procedure administered to groups. Results are discussed in terms of self-set and the attribution of behavior change. (Author)