Treatment of constipation-caused encopresis by a negative reinforcement procedure.
During a baseline condition soiling and the cumulative number of bowel movements of a child suffering from retentive encopresis were recorded. Following this, a DRO (differential reinforcement of other behavior) alone, a DRO plus overcorrection procedure, and a negative reinforcement procedure were each evaluated using a reversal design. The negative reinforcement procedure, which involved having the child sit on the toilet three times a day for increasing time periods if no bowel movement occurred, suppressed soiling and led to regular unprompted daily bowel movements in a very brief period of time. The DRO alone and DRO plus overcorrection conditions produced only a small decline in soiling.
D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D003248:Constipation / Q000150:complications; D004688:Encopresis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010056:Overlearning; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology