Improving Treatment Integrity in a Human Service Setting Using Lottery-Based Incentives

Abstract

The present study was conducted to improve implementation fidelity of discrete trial training procedures. Three participants were selected from a special education school providing services for students with intellectual disabilities. Staff behaviors measured included the correct implementation of a prompt hierarchy, the accuracy of data recorded, the correct delivery of prompts, and whether procedures were correctly set up for the following day's activities. Intervention consisted of daily verbal and graphic feedback and a lottery-based incentive system in which staff had to perform at a set goal level for the week in order to be eligible for entry into a drawing. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was utilized to evaluate the effects of the intervention package, and integrity improved consistently for all participants during the intervention.

Keywords:

• feedback
• goal setting
• human services
• incentives
• lottery

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank Andrea Schanbacher, Curtis Wojnar, Angela Mollette, and Jill LaClair for their assistance during the conducting of this research.

Notes

Dr. Sigurdsson is now at Florida Institute of Technology, School of Behavior Analysis.