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Hand washing is the most important preventative measure for the reduction of contagious disease. Although hand washing is easy to perform, non-adherence is a ubiquitous problem. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of multi-component intervention packages to improve hand washing among employees; however, interventions are limited to acute settings, are often implemented for a short period of time, and rarely, if ever, include information on long-term effectiveness. The purpose of the current study was to utilize a behavior analytic approach to determine the stimulus conditions under which hand washing should occur, and to assess and then implement a long-term monitoring system among direct care workers in a large, non-acute inpatient unit. A single-case repeated measures reversal design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions aimed at improving hand washing adherence. A lottery was found to be effective in increasing hand hygiene for 2-years with 170 staff.

Process safety involves worker decisions at various points in an extended process, and much remains unknown regarding sources of variability in worker behavior at these decision points. Thi...

We reviewed all issues of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) from 2000 through 2015 to identify the percentage of empirical articles, which utilized some form of preintervention assessment. In addition, we categorized five types of assessment used and compared the number of assessments conducted in each category. Finally, because assessment is considered to be particularly important in the subdiscipline of behavioral safety (McSween, 2003), and prior research has not examined the commonality of assessment in this area, we also analyzed the frequency and type of assessment procedures used in behavioral safety and compared this to the use of assessment in OBM in general. Results indicated that 28% of the empirical articles in JOBM used some form of preintervention assessment. Indirect methods were the most often used type of assessment. In addition, 48% percent of the articles in JOBM, which employed a safety-related dependent variable, included some form of assessment. The mos...

The overjustification hypothesis suggests that extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic rewards are common in strengthening behavior in persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities; we examined overjustification effects in this context. A literature search yielded 65 data sets permitting comparison of responding during an initial no-reinforcement phase to a subsequent no-reinforcement phase, separated by a reinforcement phase. We used effect sizes to compare response levels in these two no-reinforcement phases. Overall, the mean effect size did not differ from zero; levels in the second no-reinforcement phase were equally likely to be higher or lower than in the first. However, in contrast to the overjustification hypothesis, levels were higher in the second no-reinforcement phase when comparing the single no-reinforcement sessions immediately before and after reinforcement. Outcomes consistent with the overjustification hypothesis were somewhat more likely when the target behavior occurred at relatively higher levels prior to reinforcement.

We adapted the Performance Diagnostic Checklist to analyze the environmental events contributing to safe and at-risk behaviors by employees in organizations. We then used the resulting tool, the Performance Diagnostic Checklist–Safety (PDC-Safety), to identify variables contributing to unsafe equipment usage by 3 members of a landscaping crew at a private university. Based on PDC-Safety results, an intervention consisting of graphic feedback was implemented. The intervention increased safe performance for all participants.

We examined the use of employment-based abstinence reinforcement in out-of-treatment injection drug users, in this secondary analysis of a previously reported trial. Participants (N = 33) could work in the therapeutic workplace, a model employment-based program for drug addiction, for 30 weeks and could earn approximately $10 per hr. During a 4-week induction, participants only had to work to earn pay. After induction, access to the workplace was contingent on enrollment in methadone treatment. After participants met the methadone contingency for 3 weeks, they had to provide opiate-negative urine samples to maintain maximum pay. After participants met those contingencies for 3 weeks, they had to provide opiate- and cocaine-negative urine samples to maintain maximum pay. The percentage of drug-negative urine samples remained stable until the abstinence reinforcement contingency for each drug was applied. The percentage of opiate- and cocaine-negative urine samples increased abruptly and significantly after the opiate- and cocaine-abstinence contingencies, respectively, were applied. These results demonstrate that the sequential administration of employment-based abstinence reinforcement can increase opiate and cocaine abstinence among out-of-treatment injection drug users.

The therapeutic workplace is an employment-based abstinence reinforcement intervention for unemployed drug users where trainees receive on-the-job employment skills training in a classroom setting. The study is an extension of prior therapeutic workplace research, which suggested that trainees frequently violated noise standards. Participants received real-time graphed feedback of noise levels and had the opportunity to earn monetary group reinforcement for maintaining a low number of noise violations. Results suggested that feedback and monetary reinforcement reduced the number of noise violations.

The present study isolated the effects of frequently used staff training intervention components to increase communication between direct care staff and clinicians working on an inpatient behavioral unit. Written “protocol review” quizzes developed by clinicians were designed to assess knowledge about a patient’s behavioral protocols. Direct care staff completed these at the beginning of each day and evening shift. Clinicians were required to score and discuss these protocol reviews with direct care staff for at least 75% of shifts over a 2-week period. During baseline, only 21% of clinicians met this requirement. Completing and scoring of protocol reviews did not improve following additional in-service training ( M = 15%) or following an intervention aimed at decreasing response effort combined with prompting ( M = 28%). After implementing an intervention involving specified performance criterion and performance feedback, 86% of clinicians reached the established goal. Results of a component analysis suggested that the presentation of both the specified performance criterion and supporting contingencies was necessary to maintain acceptable levels of performance.

The present study was conducted to improve implementation fidelity of discrete trial training procedures. Three participants were selected from a special education school providing services for students with intellectual disabilities. Staff behaviors measured included the correct implementation of a prompt hierarchy, the accuracy of data recorded, the correct delivery of prompts, and whether procedures were correctly set up for the following day's activities. Intervention consisted of daily verbal and graphic feedback and a lottery-based incentive system in which staff had to perform at a set goal level for the week in order to be eligible for entry into a drawing. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was utilized to evaluate the effects of the intervention package, and integrity improved consistently for all participants during the intervention.

Advancing the education of low-income adults could increase employment and income, but adult education programs have not successfully engaged low-income adults. Monetary reinforcement may be effective in promoting progress in adult education. This experiment evaluated the benefits of providing incentives for performance in a job-skills training program for low-income, unemployed adults. Participants worked on typing and keypad programs for 7 months. Participants randomly assigned to Group A (n = 23) earned hourly and productivity pay on the typing program (productivity pay), but earned only equalized hourly pay on the keypad program (hourly pay). Group B (n = 19) participants had the opposite contingencies. Participants worked more on, advanced further on, and preferred their productivity pay program. These results show that monetary incentives can increase performance in a job-skills training program, and indicate that payment in adult education programs should be delivered contingent on performance in the training program instead of simply on attendance.

The current study evaluated preferences of undergraduate students for graphic feedback on percentage of incorrect performance versus feedback on percentage of correct performance. A total of 108 participants were enrolled in the study and received graphic feedback on performance on 12 online quizzes. One half of participants received graphic feedback on percentage of correct performance on the first four online quizzes and then received feedback on percentage of incorrect performance on the following four quizzes. The order was reversed for the other half of participants. Participants were then asked whether their feedback on the final four quizzes should depict percentage of correct or incorrect performance. Participants who completed the study overwhelmingly preferred feedback on correct performance. The type of feedback students received for the first four quizzes did not affect subsequent quiz performance, and feedback preference was not related to performance on quizzes.

During the course of a 6-year behavioral safety consult at a food and drink industry site, data were collected on the number of Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incidents, number of lost and restricted days, and number of peer safety observations. Employees were trained to identify safe and unsafe behavior, conduct peer observations, and provide peer feedback. Data collected from observations were utilized to deliver graphic feedback. Managers were encouraged to review graphic feedback with employees weekly, provide prompts for observation, and praise employees for conducting observations. A committee composed of employees and managers met monthly to address safety concerns. Reductions in incidents were observed over the course of the behavioral safety intervention, but a reversal to baseline could not be implemented. A negative correlation was observed between number of peer observations and number of recordable incidents. Results suggest that when employees conduct peer observ...

The present analysis was conducted to validate an automated measurement system of noise violations by participants in the therapeutic workplace, which is a model workplace that offers paid employment and vocational training programs to illicit drug users. We collected data on dB levels via an electronic dB meter in a computer classroom with many different sound sources, and defined noise violations as sounds exceeding 55 dB. Human observers recorded whether staff or participants were responsible for violations, the types of events that resulted in violations, and whether these events were a result of participant behavior. Our analyses revealed that participants caused the majority of noise violations. These results suggest that the automated measurement system collects valid data on participant behavior that contributes to noise violations. Our results also suggest that these behaviors can in principle be modified to reduce the frequency of noise violations. Suggestions for replication in other settings and interventions designed to reduce behaviors leading to noise violations involving feedback and incentives are discussed.

Analyses were conducted to compare rates of employment before, during, and after employment at the therapeutic workplace, which is a novel employment-based treatment for drug misuse. Participants in two clinical trials attended the therapeutic workplace at higher rates than they worked before intake and six months after discharge. These data suggest that unemployed chronic drug misusers will attend work at higher rates at the therapeutic workplace than in the community when paid modest wages, and that the failure of chronic drug misusers to obtain employment in the community may not result from lack of interest in work.

This study evaluated video scoring and feedback about scoring as a safety intervention among 6 nursing staff. The dependent variable was safety behavior on one-person transfers. Following baseline, 5 nursing staff participated in an information phase. A video scoring phase was then introduced for all 6. A feedback phase was added for 2 participants. All participants experienced treatment withdrawal. Information resulted in improvements for all 5 participants who received it. Further improvements were observed during video scoring for the 5 participants who improved following information. No improvements were observed for the participant who received only video scoring. Safety feedback further improved safety for the 2 participants who received it. However, participants' behavior returned to video scoring levels during withdrawal.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a multicomponent intervention that included discrimination training, real-time visual feedback, and self-monitoring on postural behavior at a computer workstation in a simulated office environment. Using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across 8 participants, the study assessed the effects of the intervention across three postural variables. Following an information phase, the intervention started for the lowest stable postural variable. The intervention led to substantial improvements in safety behavior for most targeted postural variables. A reversal to the information phase for 2 participants did not lead to decreases in safety. Postures self-monitored with high accuracy improved to a greater degree than postures self-monitored with low accuracy.

Many workers in industrialized nations spend their day seated at a desk. Research suggests that accumulated sitting time increases risk for certain diseases (van der Ploeg, Chey, Korda, Banks, & Bauman, 2012). To reduce risk, health researchers recommend frequent standing or walking breaks during the workday. In the current study, we evaluated 3 behavioral interventions to decrease bouts of prolonged sitting among office workers. Information alone was not as effective as a treatment package that consisted of a tactile prompt, feedback, and goal setting.

A review of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management(1991–2002) was conducted to determine to what extent researchers in OBM programmed for “institutionalization” of applied interventions. Criteria for the term “institutionalization” were derived from McSween and Matthews (2001), and Grindle, Dickinson, and Boettcher (2000). Four dependent measures of institutionalization were developed that addressed the extent to which internal staff was involved in the design of the intervention, whether in-house employees were trained in implementing any component of the intervention, and whether interventions incorporated formal systems of collecting data or dispensing consequences that were overseen by internal personnel. Data on intervention effectiveness and maintenance of intervention effects were collected. Results indicated that the majority of interventions incorporated at least one institutionalization element, and that the average study incorporated two institutionalization elements. A stat...

A three-group designwas used to evaluate the effects of immediate and delayed verbal prompts on seat belt use versus a no-prompt control condition. Participants in this study were drivers who used valet parking services at a hotel. In the immediate-prompt condition, participants were prompted to buckle up immediately before entering a vehicle; in the delayed-prompt condition, the prompt was delivered when participants delivered the ticket to have their vehicles retrieved. The average delay between a prompt and when participants'vehicles were in motionwas nearly 30 s in the immediate-prompt condition, whereas the delay in the delayed-prompt condition was nearly 5 min 30 s. It was hypothesized that (a) delayed prompts would result in increased seat belt usage rates as compared to the control condition and (b) immediate prompts would lead to higher seat belt usage than delayed prompts. Results supported the second hypothesis but not the first.

Safety is a large concern in organizational and community settings. Behavioral safety, the application of behavioral principles to safe performance, has contributed to safe practices in many ways. This chapter first describes behavioral safety, briefly reviews its history, and then notes some of the target behaviors and industries in which it has been applied. Assessment and intervention methods in behavioral safety are then described. The chapter concludes with a description of root causes of injuries, suppression of safety data, privacy issues, and union criticisms of behavioral safety, which are topics of current interest in the field.

In this chapter, we introduce Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA), which is an approach to performance improvement in organizations. BSA blends ABA with the General Systems Theory-an approach to understanding organizational systems by examining the relationships between parts of the system, as well as the relationships between the system and the external environment. We give a brief history of the field, introduce the three levels of BSA (organizational, process, and performer), and give examples of its most commonly used tools. We then illustrate, through examples from previous studies, the use of these tools at each of the three levels of analysis. We end this chapter with some suggestions for future research in the area of BSA.

We examined the use of employment-based abstinence reinforcement in out-of-treatment injection drug users, in this secondary analysis of a previously reported trial. Participants (N = 33) could work in the therapeutic workplace, a model employment-based program for drug addiction, for 30 weeks and could earn approximately $10 per hr. During a 4-week induction, participants only had to work to earn pay. After induction, access to the workplace was contingent on enrollment in methadone treatment. After participants met the methadone contingency for 3 weeks, they had to provide opiate-negative urine samples to maintain maximum pay. After participants met those contingencies for 3 weeks, they had to provide opiate- and cocaine-negative urine samples to maintain maximum pay. The percentage of drug-negative urine samples remained stable until the abstinence reinforcement contingency for each drug was applied. The percentage of opiate- and cocaine-negative urine samples increased abruptly and significantly after the opiate- and cocaine-abstinence contingencies, respectively, were applied. These results demonstrate that the sequential administration of employment-based abstinence reinforcement can increase opiate and cocaine abstinence among out-of-treatment injection drug users.

Determine if employment-based reinforcement can increase methadone treatment engagement and drug abstinence in out-of-treatment injection drug users.This study was conducted from 2008 to 2012 in a therapeutic workplace in Baltimore, MD. After a 4-week induction, participants (N=98) could work and earn pay for 26 weeks and were randomly assigned to Work Reinforcement, MethadoneWork Reinforcement, and Abstinence, MethadoneWork Reinforcement conditions. Work Reinforcement participants had to work to earn pay. MethadoneWork Reinforcement and Abstinence, Methadone,Work Reinforcement participants had to enroll in methadone treatment to work and maximize pay. Abstinence, Methadone,Work Reinforcement participants had to provide opiate- and cocaine-negative urine samples to maximize pay.Most participants (92%) enrolled in methadone treatment during induction. Drug abstinence increased as a graded function of the addition of the methadone and abstinence contingencies. Abstinence, MethadoneWork Reinforcement participants provided significantly more urine samples negative for opiates (75% versus 54%) and cocaine (57% versus 32%) than Work Reinforcement participants. MethadoneWork Reinforcement participants provided significantly more cocaine-negative samples than Work Reinforcement participants (55% versus 32%).The therapeutic workplace can promote drug abstinence in out-of-treatment injection drug users. Clinical trial registration number: NCT01416584.

The therapeutic workplace is an employment-based abstinence reinforcement intervention for unemployed drug users where trainees receive on-the-job employment skills training in a classroom setting. The study is an extension of prior therapeutic workplace research, which suggested that trainees frequently violated noise standards. Participants received real-time graphed feedback of noise levels and had the opportunity to earn monetary group reinforcement for maintaining a low number of noise violations. Results suggested that feedback and monetary reinforcement reduced the number of noise violations.

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy ). This reprinted article has been retracted at the request of the Publisher. The online version of this reprint has been withdrawn as it was a redundant duplicate of the original article. The original can be found via doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2008.10.005 . The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

We evaluated a strategy for decreasing improperly stored dishes in a hospital unit. A humorous sign and a neutral sign were posted to remind staff to store dishes properly, and follow-up data were collected to determine maintenance effects. Relative to baseline, fewer dishes were stored improperly when a sign was posted, regardless of sign content. These effects were maintained during a 4-month follow-up. Results of social validity questionnaires showed low acceptability for the humorous sign and moderate acceptability for the neutral sign.

Advancing the education of low-income adults could increase employment and income, but adult education programs have not successfully engaged low-income adults. Monetary reinforcement may be effective in promoting progress in adult education. This experiment evaluated the benefits of providing incentives for performance in a job-skills training program for low-income, unemployed adults. Participants worked on typing and keypad programs for 7 months. Participants randomly assigned to Group A (n = 23) earned hourly and productivity pay on the typing program (productivity pay), but earned only equalized hourly pay on the keypad program (hourly pay). Group B (n = 19) participants had the opposite contingencies. Participants worked more on, advanced further on, and preferred their productivity pay program. These results show that monetary incentives can increase performance in a job-skills training program, and indicate that payment in adult education programs should be delivered contingent on performance in the training program instead of simply on attendance.

Drug addiction can be a chronic problem. Abstinence reinforcement can initiate drug abstinence, but as with other treatments many patients relapse after the intervention ends. Abstinence reinforcement can be maintained to promote long-term drug abstinence, but practical means of implementing long-term abstinence reinforcement are needed.We reviewed 8 clinical trials conducted in Baltimore, MD from 1996 through 2010 that evaluated the therapeutic workplace as a vehicle for maintaining reinforcement for the treatment of drug addiction. The therapeutic workplace uses employment-based reinforcement in which employees must provide objective evidence of drug abstinence or medication adherence to work and earn wages.Employment-based reinforcement can initiate (3 of 4 studies) and maintain (2 studies) cocaine abstinence in methadone patients, although relapse can occur even after long-term exposure to abstinence reinforcement (1 study). Employment-based reinforcement can also promote abstinence from alcohol in homeless alcohol dependent adults (1 study), and maintain adherence to extended-release naltrexone in opioid dependent adults (2 studies).Treatments should seek to promote life-long effects in patients. Therapeutic reinforcement may need to be maintained indefinitely to prevent relapse. Workplaces could be effective vehicles for the maintenance of therapeutic reinforcement contingencies for drug abstinence and adherence to addiction medications.

Improving employees' posture may decrease the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. The current paper is a systematic replication and extension of Sigurdsson and Austin (2008), who found that an intervention consisting of information, real-time feedback, and self-monitoring improved participant posture at mock workstations. In the current study, participants worked in an applied setting, and posture data were collected at participants' own workstations and a mock workstation. Intervention in the mock setting was associated with consistent improvement in safe posture at the mock workstation, but generalization to the actual workstation was limited.

INTRODUCTION: Comprehensive interventions that address public-health concerns invariably include behavior-change strategies. In occupational safety and health, behavioral safety is an approach designed to improve safety performance directly through peer observations of safe behaviors, goal setting, performance feedback, and celebrations or incentives for reaching safety goals. Although the basic components of behavioral safety processes have been studied and widely documented, the current safety literature reveals several gaps in knowledge. These gaps are associated mostly with wide practice variations among the common process elements and uncertainty about the influence of organizational and other external factors. IMPACT TO INDUSTRY: A major objective of this paper was to highlight not only key topic areas that warrant further research, but also to propose a list of research questions that are tied to uncertainties about various intervention practices. If only a portion of these topic areas and research questions are addressed through systematic reviews, field interventions, surveys, and laboratory-based studies, then the knowledge gained will significantly improve the delivery and effectiveness of behavioral safety interventions and thus their impact on worker health and safety. Language: en