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Biomedical subjects

B L Hopkins

Publications and source records attributed to B L Hopkins.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Applied behavior analysis and statistical process control?

This paper examines Pfadt and Wheeler's (1995) suggestions that the methods of statistical process control (SPC) be incorporated into applied behavior analysis. The research strategies of SPC are examined and compared to those of applied behavior analysis. I argue that the statistical methods that are a part of SPC would likely reduce applied behavior analysts' intimate contacts with the problems with which they deal and would, therefore, likely yield poor treatment and research decisions. Examples of these kinds of results and decisions are drawn from the cases and data Pfadt and Wheeler present. This paper also describes and clarifies many common misconceptions about SPC, including W. Edwards Deming's involvement in its development, its relationship to total quality management, and its confusion with various other methods designed to detect sources of unwanted variability.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1990

Empowering people with physical disabilities through advocacy skills training.

Members of an advocacy organization for people with physical disabilities were trained to identify and report issues at group meetings. In addition, two consecutive chairpersons were trained to conduct action-oriented meetings. Measures of group members' activities outside meetings and related outcomes on identified issues were also collected. Results indicated increases in the number of disability-related issues reported by trained members and consistent improvements in chairperson performance following training. Retrospective interviews and permanent records showed that advocacy activities, as well as the outcomes of members' actions, increased after training. These findings and their implications for the empowerment of people with disabilities are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The long-term effects of a token economy on safety performance in open-pit mining.

A token economy that used trading stamps as tokens was instituted at two dangerous open-pit mines. Employees earned stamps for working without lost-time injuries, for being in work groups in which all other workers had no lost-time injuries, for not being involved in equipment-damaging accidents, for making adopted safety suggestions, and for unusual behavior which prevented an injury or accident. They lost stamp awards if they or other workers in their group were injured, caused equipment damage, or failed to report accidents or injuries. The stamps could be exchanged for a selection of thousands of items at redemption stores. Implementation of the token economy was followed by large reductions in the number of days lost from work because of injuries, the number of lost-time injuries, and the costs of accidents and injuries. The reductions in costs far exceeded the costs of operating the token economy. All improvements were maintained over several years.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1986

Effective and reliable behavioral control technology.

The fiberglass-reinforced plastics industry and the literature on controlling exposures to toxic substances were surveyed to select work practices and housekeeping conditions that might be useful in reducing workers' exposures to styrene. A training program was developed to teach the selected behaviors to workers, and a behavior maintenance program was developed to encourage their continued use after training. These behavioral controls were introduced to appropriate workers in three different plants and were effective in changing all selected behaviors and conditions. Statistically reliable reductions in workers' exposures to styrene accompanied the changes in behaviors. All improvements were maintained throughout the course of data collection. The research provides a clear demonstration that behavioral controls can be used reliably to reduce workers' exposures to toxic substances.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1986

Behavioral technology for reducing occupational exposures to styrene.

We conducted a test of the usefulness of behavioral methods to control occupational health problems by reducing workers' exposures to toxic chemicals. Four plastics workers were trained in nine behaviors selected for potential to reduce their exposures to styrene, a common chemical with multiple toxic effects. Behavioral measures indicated that the workers quickly came to emit most of the behaviors. Measures of air samples indicated that large decreases in exposures to styrene accompanied the changes in behaviors for the three workers who had been selected because they most needed relief from their exposures and because they had opportunities to control their exposures by the ways they behaved.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1976

Safe and unsafe behavior and its modification.

After discussing some of the limitations of existing behavioral safety research, the authors propose a new approach to the problem. The approach is based on systematically controlling the psychological environment by precisely defining and rewarding safe behabiors and extinguishing unsafe behaviors. This approach to changing behavior is broadly designated the experimental analysis of behavior, and comprises two separate components, applied behavior analysis and applied behavior management. Application of the principles to the problem of increasing the frequency of safe behaviors and decreasing the frequency of unsafe behaviors is illustrated with two examples, one real, one hypothetical. A conclusion is drawn that researchers pursuing behavioral approaches to accident reduction should utilize the methods and technology of applied behavior analysis and management.

Accident Prevention↗