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Biomedical subjects

D A Hantula

Publications and source records attributed to D A Hantula.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Matching training procedures to outcomes. A behavioral and quantitative analysis.

To analyze the effects of matching the prompting procedure used in training to the specific behavior chain to be taught, 3 students with mild to moderate retardation were taught four independent tasks: making a bagged lunch, playing a matching game with a peer, ordering food at a restaurant, and participating in a social conversation. Following baseline, all 3 students were exposed to one of two types of training procedures for each task: a least-to-most prompting procedure or a most-to-least prompting procedure. The type of training procedure was counter-balanced across students and tasks, whereas performance on the tasks was evaluated within a combination of a multiple-baseline design across participants and multiple-probe design across tasks. When the method of prompting was matched to the naturally occurring discriminative stimulus (SD) of the training stimulus, it greatly affected acquisition and maintenance of the skill in terms of differences in levels of and variability of performance. The most-to-least method of prompting, the matched method in these cases, was more efficient and effective for acquisition and generalization of the bagged-lunch and matching-game skills. The least-to-most method, the matched method in these cases, was more efficient and effective for social questions and ordering-food skills.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1996

Reasonable accommodation for employees with mental disabilities: a mandate for effective supervision?

Reasonable accommodation under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for employees with mental disabilities is explored from a behavior analytic perspective. Although much of the attention in issues of reasonable accommodation is concentrated on persons with physical disabilities, it is argued that the needs of individuals with mental disabilities are in greater need of further study. The criteria for successful accommodation in the workplace for employees with mental disabilities is seen to be structurally different, but functionally similar to successful accommodations for employees with physical disabilities, and is based on the development of enabling environments. Behavior analysis offers a theoretical basis and performance management presents a methodological basis for analyzing, developing, implementing, and evaluating reasonable accommodation for persons with mental disabilities, largely in terms of effective supervision. It is concluded that Title I of the ADA may be seen as providing a mandate for effective supervision, which may also be extended to all employees.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Disciplined decision making in an interdisciplinary environment: some implications for clinical applications of statistical process control.

This paper explores some of the implications the statistical process control (SPC) methodology described by Pfadt and Wheeler (1995) may have for analyzing more complex performances and contingencies in human services or health care environments at an organizational level. Service delivery usually occurs in an organizational system that is characterized by functional structures, high levels of professionalism, subunit optimization, and organizational suboptimization. By providing a standard set of criteria and decision rules, SPC may provide a common interface for data-based decision making, may bring decision making under the control of the contigencies that are established by these rules rather than the immediate contingencies of data fluctuation, and may attenuate escalation of failing treatments. SPC is culturally consistent with behavior analysis, sharing an emphasis on data-based decisions, measurement over time, and graphic analysis of data, as well as a systemic view of organizations.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1994

Behavioral contrast in a two-option analogue task of financial decision making.

The effects of an alternative course of action on sustained escalation and persistence in the face of failure was investigated using a computerized stock investment task. Subjects invested in "stock" in two "markets" that yielded returns according to two-component multiple variable-interval schedules. Both markets yielded equal but intermittent return rates during the first phase. In the second phase, one market ceased to yield returns, while the return rate for the other market was unchanged. During the second phase, behavioral contrast effects were evident. Investing in the market that ceased to yield returns dropped precipitously, and investing in the unchanged market increased significantly. Although the behavior may be economically "irrational," it is predictable from the matching law and shows that interactions among a history of intermittent returns in a course of action, current return rate, and currently available alternative courses of action are important determinants of persisting in, or withdrawing from, a failing course of action.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1991

A simple BASIC program to generate values for variable-interval schedules of reinforcement.

A BASIC program to generate values for variable-interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement is presented. A VI schedule should provide access to reinforcement with a constant probability over a time horizon. If the values in a VI schedule are calculated from an arithmetic progression, the probability of reinforcement is positively correlated with the time since the last reinforcer was delivered. Fleshler and Hoffman (1962) developed an iterative equation to calculate VI schedule values so that the probability of reinforcement remains constant. This easy-to-use program generates VI schedule values according to the Fleshler and Hoffman equation, randomizes the values, and saves the values in ASCII to a disk file.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Creating a smoke-free hospital: attitudes and smoking behaviors of nurses and physicians.

PURPOSE: To assess smoking prevalence and attitudes of physicians and nurses before a smoking ban. The relationship between pre-ban attitudes and post-ban smoking behavior was also studied. DESIGN: This is a prospective descriptive study of a cohort of nurses and physicians who were surveyed six months before and six months after a ban on smoking was implemented. SETTING: A large, 1,000-bed teaching hospital in the Northeast of the United States. SUBJECTS: All full-time members of the medical (n = 1,496) and nursing staff (n = 1,500) were surveyed. The overall response rate for the cohort was 41% for physicians and 39% for nurses. MEASURES: Surveys included standardized questions on current smoking behavior, and sociodemographic variables. Attitudes toward quitting and the smoking policy and attitudes about implementation and enforcement of the smoking ban were included. RESULTS: Both physicians and nurses were supportive of a smoke-free policy, but the two groups differed significantly on attitudes related to implementation and enforcement, with nurses being more accommodating toward smoking and less likely to enforce a ban on smoking. Physicians were more likely than nurses to quit smoking after implementation of the ban. Pre-ban attitudes were not predictive of post-ban changes in smoking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians and nurses agreed with establishing a smoke-free environment but disagreed over the efforts needed to maintain the smoke-free environment. Quitting behavior was not influenced by pre-ban attitudes.

Adult↗