Developing Correspondence Between the Verbal and Actual Behavior of Staff Members and Changing their Actual Behavior by Manipulating Their Verbal Behavior

Abstract

The problem. This study investigated chanqinq hospital staff's frequency of actual interactions with residents by manipulating the staff's planning estimate of interactions. Procedure. In a hospital for the developmentally handicapped, the interactions between two staff and four residents were coded by a supervisor as following appropriate, inappropriate, or neutral resident behavior. The staff gave the supervisor planning and reporting estimates of their interactions which followed appropriate resident behavior. After Baseline, the supervisor's approval was given at different times for high or low planninq or correspondence between hiqh planning and actual behavior. Findings. The data from this study indicated that a change in the frequency of actual interactions could be made by manipulatinq the planning estimate alone, but only after correspondence had been established between the frequencies of actual interactions and the planning estimates. Conclusions. After developing correspondence between verbal and actual behaviors, the staff's actual behavior can be changed by manipulating their verbal behavior. Recommendations. Supervisors in hospitals for the developmentally handicapped might establish procedures to develop correspondence between the staff's verbal and actual behaviors so that, after training, changes in actual behavior could be produced by altering planning behavior.