NURSING ASSISTANTS AS CO-THERAPISTS

Summary The present study was conducted in a small 20-bed hospital for severely subnormal children. Ten children who had evidenced a history of problem behaviour were the subjects of behaviour modification programmes aimed at reducing the frequency of problem behaviour. The main aim of the study was to establish if nursing assistants can become effective co-therapists. Two questions were investigated: (1) Can nursing assistants after 12 months' training have a sound knowledge of the principles of behaviour modification and (2) Can these nursing assistants effectively employ behaviour modification techniques which result in reductions of problem behaviour episodes? It is argued that although nursing assistants may have had an inadequate and erroneous knowledge of the principles of behaviour modification, they were able to employ behavioural techniques which affected reductions in the problem behaviours recorded. Clinical difficulties related to applied research of this kind are raised in discussion.