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Behavioral Gerontology
Description of Strategy
Behavioral gerontology is the application of behavioral principles to the problems of older adults. Though considerable work in behavioral gerontology has addressed basic research questions (e.g., the nature of dependency among nursing home residents, extent of new learning among Alzheimer's patients), most efforts in behavioral gerontology have focused on behavioral assessment, behavioral intervention, and a combination of the two. Behavioral gerontology began in the 1960s and early 1970s, with work by individuals such as Cautela, Hoyer, Lindsley, Risley, Baltes, and Pinkston. Though the same principles of behavior are applied to older adults as to younger adults and children, problems addressed with older adults are typically more complex and often unique to older adults. This is particularly the case with older adults who have experienced physical and cognitive decline.
Research Basis
A moderate amount of research has been conducted in behavioral geronotology, though many questions remain unanswered. Research areas, target problems, and interventions will be discussed by problem area, with an emphasis on clinical gerontology.
Self-Care
Self-care behaviors, including feeding/eating, ambulating, and maintaining personal hygiene may drop from an older adult's behavioral repertoire as a result of the progression of a disease or health problem or simply because these behaviors are no longer reinforced by environmental contingencies. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of employing contingent positive reinforcement (e.g., praise) for eating combined with a time-out procedure for food refusal. Other interventions have incorporated prompting and praise for ambulation independent of a wheelchair and/or reinforcement for distance walked. Employment of token economies has proven effective as a method for reinforcing performance of personal hygiene tasks, including bathing, toileting, and oral hygiene. In addition to interventions based on reinforcement of the self-care behavior, other successful interventions have emphasized skills training involving instruction, modeling, and behavioral rehearsal.
Social Behavior
Social Skills
As opportunities for social interaction (e.g., job, school) decrease with age, older adults may find it difficult to interact socially and, as a result, lose social skills that were once a part of their behavioral repertoires. Social withdrawal is also common in older adults due to restraints in mobility or loss of friends and loved ones. Social skills training is a behavioral intervention that involves instruction, modeling of social behavior, behavioral rehearsal or role playing, feedback, and reinforcement of social interaction. Several studies have demonstrated that through social skills training, community-dwelling and institutionalized older adults were able to develop or fine-tune interpersonal skills that enhanced the quality and frequency of interactions with others.
Dependency
Older adults, especially those in nursing homes or institutional settings, must frequently rely on others for assistance with tasks, ranging from transportation to personal hygiene. As dependency on others grows, researchers have found that caregivers may inadvertently reinforce dependency by offering support, such as attention for dependent behavior, while ignoring independent behavior. This, in turn, may act as a catalyst for further functional decline. Behavioral interventions have proven useful as a means of breaking this cycle. Interventions have typically focused on changing caregiver responses to older adults' independent and dependent behaviors, to promote as much autonomy as possible in the older adult. Numerous studies have demonstrated that through caregiver training involving communication skills, knowledge about aging, and basic behavioral principles, caregivers can successfully alter their behaviors, which, in turn, encourages independence in nursing-home residents.
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- Assessment - Adult Clinical Applications
- Behavioral Case Formulation
- Behavioral Working Alliance
- Behaviorology
- Computers and Behavioral Assessment
- Descriptive and Functional Analyses
- Intensive Behavior Therapy Unit
- Philosophical Aspects of Behaviorism
- Private Events
- Private Practice of Behavioral Treatment
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Role Playing
- Self-Monitoring
- Setting Events
- Termination
- Therapeutic Relationship
- Treatment Compliance in Cognitive Behavior Therapy
- Assessment - Child Clinical Applications
- Assessment - Educational Applications
- ABC Charts and Scatterplots
- Archival Records
- Behavior Rating Scales
- Behavioral Assessment
- Behavioral Assessment Interviews
- Behavioral Consultation
- Behavioral Observations (Event/Interval)
- Changing Criterion Design
- Curriculum-Based Assessment
- Direct Observation
- Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
- Early-Risk Screening for School-Related Behavior Disorders
- Functional Behavioral Assessment of Problem Behavior
- Individualized Education Program (IEP)
- Program Evaluation
- Rate and Frequency
- Standard Celeration Chart System
- Trend Line
- Visual Analysis of Graphic Data
- Autobiographies and Biographies - Adult Clinical Applications
- Agras, W. Stewart
- Azrin, Nathan H.
- Barlow, David H.
- Beck, Aaron T.
- Bellack, Alan S.
- Cautela, Joseph R.
- Davison, Gerald C.
- Emmelkamp, Paul M. G.
- Foa, Edna B.
- Franks, Cyril M.
- Goldiamond, Israel
- Hersen, Michel
- Kanfer, Frederick H.
- Kazdin, Alan E.
- Lazarus, A. A.
- Lewinsohn, Peter A.
- Marks, Isaac M.
- Marshall, William L.
- Meichenbaum, Donald H.
- Miltenberger, Raymond G.
- Paul, Gordon L.
- Pavlov, Ivan P.
- Skinner, Burrhus Frederic
- Suinn, Richard M.
- Turner, Samuel M.
- Wolpe, Joseph
- Biographies - Child Clinical Applications
- Biographies - Educational Applications
- Major Techniques - Adult Clinical Applications
- Anger Management
- Anxiety/Anger Management Training
- Applied Relaxation and Tension
- Behavioral Approaches to Schizophrenia
- Behavioral Approaches to Sexual Deviation
- Behavioral Assessment
- Behavioral Gerontology
- Behavioral Group Work
- Behavioral Medicine
- Behavioral Treatment for Aggression in Couples
- Behavioral Treatment for the Addictions
- Behavioral Weight Control Treatments
- Biofeedback
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy
- Coping With Depression
- Coverant Control
- Covert Sensitization Conditioning
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Eating Disorders
- Electrical Aversion
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
- Flooding
- Functional Analytic Psychotherapy
- Manualized Behavior Therapy
- Memory Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury
- Modeling
- Motivational Interviewing
- Multimodal Behavior Therapy
- Operant Conditioning
- Organizational Behavior Management
- Panic Control Treatment
- Pharmacotherapy and Behavior Therapy
- Private Practice of Behavioral Treatment
- Progressive Muscular Relaxation
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy
- Relapse Prevention
- Relaxation Strategies
- Role Playing
- Self-Control Therapy
- Self-Management
- Social Skills Training
- Stampfl's Therapist Directed Implosive (Flooding) Therapy
- Systematic Desensitization
- Termination
- Therapeutic Relationship
- Token Economy
- Trauma Management Therapy
- Treatment Compliance in Cognitive Behavior Therapy
- Major Techniques - Child Clinical Applications
- Adolescent Anger Management
- Antecedent Control Procedures
- Anxiety Management
- Assertiveness Training
- Aversive Conditioning
- Avoidance Training
- Behavior Management for Improving Academic and Classroom Behavior
- Behavioral Consultation
- Behavioral Contracting
- Behavioral Family Therapy
- Behavioral Group Therapy With Children and Youth
- Behavioral Weight Control Therapy With Children
- Bell and Pad Bladder Training
- Biofeedback
- Cognitive Restructuring
- Contingency Management
- Counterconditioning
- Discrete Trial Therapy
- Drug Abuse Prevention Strategies
- Exposure and Response Prevention
- Extinction
- Flooding
- Full-Spectrum Home Training for Simple Bed-Wetting
- Function Communication Training
- Habit Reversal
- In Vivo Desensitization
- Life Skills Training
- Manualized Behavior Therapy
- Modeling
- Multisystemic Therapy
- Negative Reinforcement
- Overcorrection
- Pain Management
- Parent Training
- Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
- Peer Intervention
- Pharmacotherapy
- Point System
- Positive Reinforcement
- Premack Principle
- Punishment
- Relapse Prevention
- Relaxation Training in Children
- Response Blocking
- Response Cost
- Self-Injury and Suicide
- Shaping
- Social and Interpersonal Skills Training
- Social Competence Treatment: Externalizing Disorders
- Sport Skill Training
- Systematic Desensitization With Children and Adolescents
- Time-Out
- Token Economy
- Major Techniques - Educational Applications
- Applied Behavior Analysis
- Behavior Management
- Classroom Management
- Direct Instruction
- Direct Instruction Mathematics
- Function-Based Approach to Behavior Support: Logic, Practices, and Systems
- Functional Analysis
- Person-Centered Planning
- Positive Behavior Support
- Progress Monitoring: Conceptual, Methodological, and Practical Applications
- School Emergency Procedures
- Schoolwide Discipline
- Single-Subject Research Design
- Wraparound
- Minor Techniques - Adult Clinical Applications
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Applied Tension
- Arousal Training
- Autogenic Training
- Aversion Relief
- Behavior Activation
- Behavior Rehearsal
- Behavioral Approaches to Gambling
- Behavioral Assessment
- Behavioral Contracting
- Behavioral Treatment of Cigarette Smoking
- Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia
- Behaviorology
- Bibliotherapy
- Breathing Retraining
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy With Religious Beliefs and Practices
- Cognitive Restructuring
- Cognitive-Behavioral Approach to Bipolar Disorder
- Competing Response Training
- Controlled Drinking
- Covert Positive Reinforcement
- Covert Rehearsal
- Covert Reinforcer Sampling
- Cue-Controlled Relaxation
- Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior
- Exposure
- Extinction and Habituation
- Group Behavioral Therapy for Depression
- Guided Mastery
- Habit Reversal
- Homework
- Intensive Behavior Therapy Unit
- Job Club Method
- Masturbatory Retraining
- Mindfulness Meditation
- Motivational Enhancement Therapy
- Noncontingent Reinforcement
- Orgasmic Reconditioning
- Overcorrection
- Paradoxical Intention
- Person-Centered Planning
- Private Practice of Behavioral Treatment
- Problem-Solving Therapy
- Reinforcement
- Relational Frame Therapy
- Response Prevention
- Schedule-Induced Behavior
- Self-Control
- Self-Control Desensitization
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Statement Modification
- Setting Events
- Shadowing
- Social Effectiveness Training
- Spouse-Aided Therapy
- Squeeze Technique
- Stress Inoculation Training
- Termination
- Therapeutic Relationship
- Thought-Stopping
- Video Feedback
- Virtual Reality Therapy
- Minor Techniques - Child Clinical Applications
- 3-5-10-15 Method for Spelling
- Aromatic Ammonia
- Attention Training Procedures
- Beat the Buzzer
- Behavioral Rehearsal
- Chore and Allowance Program for Children
- Competing Response Training
- Compliance Training
- Contingent Exercise
- Contingent Restraint
- Correspondence Training
- Covert Conditioning With Children and Adolescents
- Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior
- Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of Behavior
- Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior
- Discrimination Training
- Donald M. Baer
- Errorless Compliance Training
- Escape Training
- Facial Screening
- Fading
- Feedback
- Five-Step Procedure for Stealing
- Generalized Conditioned Punisher
- Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer
- Goal Setting
- Good Behavior Game
- Graduated Extinction
- Group Contingency
- Habituation
- Home-Based Reinforcement
- Homework
- Imaginal Procedures
- Lemon Juice Therapy
- Marking Time-Out
- Massed Practice
- Negative Practice
- Noncontingent Reward (Reinforcement)
- Positive Practice
- Problem-Solving Training
- Prompt
- Public Posting
- Regulated Breathing
- Reinforced Practice
- Restitution
- Retention Control Training
- Ritual Prevention
- Role Playing
- Self-Instruction Training
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Praise
- Sensory Extinction
- Somatic Control Strategies
- Spontaneous Recovery
- Sticker/Star Chart
- Stimulus Control
- Stimulus Discrimination Training
- Task Analysis
- Thought Stopping
- Transfer of Stimulus Control
- Vicarious Conditioning
- Vicarious Extinction
- Vicarious Punishment
- Vicarious Reinforcement
- Virtual Reality Therapy With Children
- Water Misting
- Write-Say Method
- Minor Techniques - Educational Applications
- Academic Interventions
- Active Student Responding
- Active Supervision
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication
- Beginning Reading
- Behavior Intervention Planning
- Behavioral Contracting
- Behavioral Momentum
- Behavioral Objectives
- Behavioral Rehearsal
- Chaining
- Choral Responding
- Classwide Peer Tutoring
- Corporal Punishment
- Cross-Age Tutoring
- Detention
- Differential Reinforcement
- Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior
- Discrete Trial Instruction
- Discrimination Training
- Error Correction
- Errorless Learning
- Extinction
- Fading
- Functional Communication Training
- General Case Programming
- Incidental Teaching
- Learned Helplessness
- Long-Term Objectives
- Mainstreaming
- Mastery Learning
- Negative Reinforcement
- Noncontingent Reinforcement as a Treatment for Problem Behavior in the Classroom
- Operant Conditioning
- Opportunity to Respond
- Pacing
- Peer Tutoring
- Pivotal Response Training
- Positive Peer Reporting
- Positive Reinforcement
- Precision Teaching
- Precorrection
- Preference and Reinforcer Identification
- Premack Principle
- Programmed Instruction
- Prompting
- Schedules of Reinforcement
- Self-Assessment
- Self-Instruction
- Self-Management
- Shaping to Teach New Behaviors
- Short-Term Objectives
- Social Skills Instruction
- Suspension
- Task Analysis
- Task Interspersal
- Teaching Schoolwide Expectations
- Teaching Students Self-Control
- Time Delay Instructional Procedure
- Time-Out
- Token Economy
- Research - Adult Clinical Applications
- Research - Educational Applications
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Conduct Disorders
- Effective Learning Environments
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Learning Disabilities
- Project Follow Through and Direct Instruction
- Self-Determination
- Sleep Deprivation
- Speech and Language Disorders
- Research and Theoretical - Child Clinical Applications
- Applied Behavior Analysis
- Behavior Therapy
- Behavioral Pediatrics
- Case Conceptualization
- Classical Conditioning
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Child Clinical Applications
- Empirically Supported Treatments for Childhood Disorders
- Functional Analysis
- Generalization
- Maintenance
- Operant Conditioning
- Paradigmatic Behavior Therapy
- Research Designs
- Schedules of Reinforcement
- Theoretical and Conceptual Issues - Adult Clinical Applications
- Applied Behavior Analysis
- Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
- Behavior Therapy and Neuropsychology
- Behavior Therapy Theory
- Behavior Training
- Behavioral Analytic Approach to Supervision
- Behavioral Consultation
- Behavioral Social Work
- Behavioral Sport Psychology
- Behavioral Treatment in Natural Environments
- Behavioral Treatments of Minorities
- Behavioral Working Alliance
- Classical Conditioning
- Contextualism
- Cultural Differences in Cognitive Therapy
- Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Patient-Focused Research
- Historical Antecedents of Behavior Modification and Therapy
- Kantor's Interbehaviorism
- Philosophical Aspects of Behaviorism
- Private Events
- Schedules of Reinforcement
- Therapeutic Relationship
- Treatment Compliance in Cognitive Behavior Therapy
- Treatment Failures in Behavior Therapy
- Theoretical Issues - Educational Applications
- Acquisition
- Antecedent
- Baseline
- Beginning Reading Instruction
- Behavioral Dimensions
- Behavioral Fluency
- Character Education
- Coercive Cycles in Families
- Consequence
- Contextual Fit
- Contextualism and Behavior Analysis
- Contingencies in Educational Settings
- Deprivation
- Establishing Operations
- Ethical Issues Regarding Behavior Management in the Schools
- Functional Relation
- Functions of Behavior
- Generalization
- Maintenance
- Operant
- Phases of Learning
- Preventing Escalated Behavior: Strategies for Defusing Problem Behavior
- Problem-Solving Consultation Model
- Punishment
- Response Class Theory
- Response Cost
- Rule-Governed Behavior
- Rules
- Satiation
- Setting Event
- Social Competence
- Stimulus Control
- Systems of Care
- Testable Hypothesis
- Zero Tolerance
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