Assessment and treatment of episodic self-injury: a case study.
Functional analysis probes were conducted over an extended time period to identify the consequences that maintained infrequent self-injury (occurred 1-5 days monthly). Occurrences of respite care and episodes of physical illness were concurrently measured in order to assess their influence on response-reinforcer relations during functional analysis conditions. Functional analysis of immediate antecedents and consequences produced inconclusive results. A subsequent systematic manipulation of respite care demonstrated a relationship between the presence of self-injury and the occurrence of respite the previous evening. The intervention consisted of altering the respite situation, which resulted in the long-term elimination of self-injury.
O'Reilly
M F
MF
Department of Psychology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland. moreilly@macollamh.ucd.ie
D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012144:Respite Care / Q000523:psychology; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment