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Behaviour Change Programs 3a Briefly explain how…
Behaviour Change Programs
3a Briefly explain how learning theories inform the principles of behaviour change programs.
Operationalisation of Behaviour
3b Explain why counsellors seek to ‘operationalise the behaviour’.
Functional Analysis of Behaviour
3c What is the purpose of conducting a functional analysis of behaviour?
3d Functional analysis involves determining the ‘ABCs’ of behaviour.
i) Complete the table below by defining the each of the terms listed.
Term
Definition
i. Antecedent
ii. Behaviour
iii. Consequence
ii) Imagine that you are working as a behavioural counsellor. Mark has come to see you because he wants to reduce his fast food intake and have a healthier diet. In the space below, write three (3) questions that you could ask Mark to better understand the antecedents of his behaviour.
iii) You learn that when Mark feels stressed at work, he resorts to fast food for comfort. His mates at work also get fast food for lunch regularly, and he doesn’t want to miss out on this opportunity for social contact with his friends. He didn’t recognise how often he was eating fast food until he found that he could not fit into a suit that he had bought six months ago to wear to his brother’s wedding, and realised that he had put on a substantial amount of weight. When he started thinking about it, he realised that he now eats fast food at least five times a week.
Complete the following table by identifying at least one relevant antecedent, behaviour, and consequence in Mark’s case. Remember that consequences, in the context of understanding a behaviour, are things that reinforce the problem behaviour (i.e., putting on weight is a consequence of eating too much fast food, but it is not an appropriate response to the term ‘consequence’ in this context).
Note: Any consequence you identify must be an outcome that reinforces Mark’s fast food intake.
Term
Example
i. Antecedent
ii. Behaviour
iii. Positive Consequence
Establish goals for behavioural change
3e Develop three (3) questions that you could you ask a client to help them establish specific goals for behavioural change.
Agree program of behavioural change
3f Imagine that you are still working in the same role as in question 3.4. Your client, Mark has since consulted with his GP and worked with a dietician to develop a healthier eating plan. He has come back to you for more assistance in sticking to his goal of reducing his fast food intake to once a week, as part of his weight management program.
Complete the following table by outlining one strategy for each category that you and Mark could use to help him achieve this behavioural change, and how you would use it in Mark’s case.
Type of strategy
Strategy
i) Stimulus/response technique
ii) Reinforcement/punishment technique
iii) Demonstration/practice technique
Monitor and record
3g Briefly explain why it is important to monitor and record behaviours before and during behavioural change programs.
Integrating Your Knowledge
3h Imagine that you are working with a client, Timothy, who wants to change his sedentary lifestyle. Timothy’s initial goal is to jog for 20 minutes, three days a week. He has received medical clearance to do so, but is struggling to make the change stick. At the moment he is averaging one 20 minute jog per week. During the session, you assist Timothy with developing a behavioural change program designed to help him reach his goal.
i) How can Timothy monitor his behaviour?
ii) Using the monitoring method you identified in response to 3.8a, how could Timothy assess whether or not he has made progress a month later?
iii) Based on your understanding of operant conditioning principles, provide one example of how Timothy could use reinforcement to help him to achieve his goal.
iv) Timothy has been in his behaviour change program for four weeks and now returns for a counselling session to review his progress. Here’s a snapshot of Timothy’s record. (x indicates a day on which he jogged for at least 20 minutes.)
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Week 1
x
x
x
Week 2
x
x
Week 3
x
x
Week 4
x
x
v) Evaluate the data above and determine whether Timothy has been making progress by Week 4. Justify your assessment.
vi) During the session, Timothy tells you that he quickly feels bored after jogging for five minutes and does not feel like continuing afterwards. What could help Timothy overcome boredom and increase the likelihood of his keeping to his exercise plan?
3i Develop a behaviour change program for Lloyd and Tamsyn to use with their children in the following case scenario.
Lloyd and Tamsyn have two children: Clair, aged eight, and Rupert, aged seven. Both parents have full-time jobs and busy lives. The whole family is active with sport, music lessons, and community engagements.
Although there is some nagging, disputes, and angry words, the family is generally functional, and the members get along well. However, the children have been slacking off lately. A typical example of this is dropping their bags in the middle of the lounge room floor after coming home from school. Getting a ‘talking to’ from their parents hasn’t made a difference.
Tamsyn and Lloyd are very frustrated and decide to consult a counsellor at the local youth and family centre for help.
i) Imagine that you are the counsellor working with Tamsyn and Lloyd, and that you are supporting them to develop a behaviour change program that they can implement with their children. Tamsyn and Lloyd tell you that their goal is for Clair and Rupert to be more responsible. Write down what you would ask Tamsyn and Lloyd in order to identify a particular behaviour that they want to change.
ii) Lloyd and Tamsyn agree that they would like to see Clair and Rupert take their school bags into their rooms immediately after getting home each afternoon by the end of term two. Based on your understanding of operant conditioning principles, write one (1) reward (reinforcement) and one (1) sanction (punishment) that Lloyd and Tamsyn could use to encourage Clair and Rupert to take their school bags into their rooms.
iii) Describe how Tamsyn and Lloyd can record and monitor the progress of behavioural change every week.
iv) Using the information you have collected from Lloyd and Tamsyn, and your responses to questions 3i. ii and 3i. iii, complete the following program plan from the perspective of Tamsyn and Lloyd.
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE PROGRAM PLAN
a) Step 1 – Establish Goal
b) Step 2 – Establish Baseline
c) Step 3 – Implement and Record Program for Change
d) Step 4 – Rewards and Sanctions
i. Rewards
ii. Sanction
e) Step 5 – Evaluation and Modification
3j Imagine that you are working with Abraham, who wants to reduce his smoking. Abraham grew up in a household of smokers and since he was young he has seen his father and grandfather smoke on daily basis. When he became a teenager, he was introduced to cigarettes by one of his friends and started using them occasionally. He is now working and several of the co-workers he likes smoke.
i) Based on what you know about observational learning, explain Abraham’s development of smoking as a habit.
ii) During counselling, you help Abraham formulate a program to reduce his smoking behaviour. His goal is to reduce from 10 cigarettes per day to five cigarettes a day in four weeks. Here’s Abraham’s diary:
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Week 1
10
10
10
10
10
8
8
Week 2
8
6
8
7
9
5
5
Week 3
8
7
6
9
7
5
5
Week 4
7
7
6
6
7
5
5
Analyse the data and determine whether Abraham is making positive progress towards his goal. In your response, identify one trend that you have observed relating to work days as compared to weekends and consider what social influences could be impacting upon this.
iii) Abraham says that he has a few colleagues he used to go on smoking breaks with. He finds that he craves a smoke whenever he spends time with them, even when they are not smoking in front of him. Using classical conditioning, explain Abraham’s craving for a cigarette when he spends time with these colleagues.
iv) Considering the interacting influences in Abraham’s environment and their potential impacts on Abraham’s smoking behaviour, you and Abraham jointly agree that he needs to learn how to say ‘no’ to his colleagues whenever they invite him to go on a smoking break. Describe the steps you would take to help Abraham learn assertive communication skills that he can use in such situations, based on your concepts from Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory.
