Effects of a Stringent vs. Lenient Awakening Procedure on the Efficacy of the Dry Bed Procedure

Abstract

Two experiments compared the effects of two drybed procedures on nocturnal bed-wetting. In the first, four children were treated with Azrin and Thienes' (1978) modified dry-bed procedure for several weeks followed by another procedure which included (a) the use of a more stringent criterion for fading the number of awakrenings during the maintenance criterion for fading the number of awakenings during the maintenance condition, and (b) the use of a pad and buzzer device. The modified dry-bed procedure did not produce as marked a reduction in bed-wetting as the stringently faded nightly awakening plus pad and buzzer device procedure. In the second experiment, two children were treated with the stringently faded nightly awakening plus pad and buzzer device procedure alone while the remaining two children received the modified dry-bed procedure followed by the stringently faded nightly awakrening plus pad and buzzer device procedure. This study also demonstrates the superiority of the more stringent procedure. In a third experiment, three children were treated with the stringently faded nightly awakening procedure without the use of the pad and buzzer device. This experiment suggests that the primary factor responsible for the effectiveness of the stringently faded nightly awakrening plus pad and buzzer device in the two previous experiments was the use of the stringent fading criterion.