The Influence of Case History and Treatment Mediator on Ratings of Acceptability of Child Treatment

Abstract

The present investigation examined the acceptability of five alternative treatment procedures: contingent removal; differential attention; overcorrection; positive reinforcement; and timeout. The treatments were presented for a clinical case describing a mentally retarded child who evidenced pica. Graduate education and undergraduate psychology students rated treatment acceptability on the Treatment Evaluation Inventory. The influence of prior treatment history, i.e., some treatments were described as previously ineffective, and identity of the treatment mediator were examined. Treatment acceptability was judged in the following order: positive reinforcement; overcorrection; contingent removal, differential attention, and time-out. Additionally differential attention was rated more positively by psychology raters who did not receive treatment history information while the reverse was so for the education raters. As expected, prior treatment history did not influence ratings of acctability for overcorrection and time-out. Mediator identity was not found to influence acceptability ratings. Results are discussed with regard to clinical issues, limitations of the present investigation, and future research directions.