The Use of Operant Conditioning in Stroke Patients to Facilitate Relearning Dressing Skills

<p>Medical rehabilitation consists of learning appropriate behaviors related to specific disabilities. Lack of motivation on the part of the patient is frequently identified by health personnel as being a principle obstacle to the patient’s relearning basic skills necessary for his re- habilitation. This study was undertaken to explore the use of operant conditioning in teaching stabilized stroke patients to dress themselves and thus, increase their self-care independence. Social rewards (praise and attention) coupled with a dressing chart to provide feedback of progress, were the reinforcers.</p> <p>A case study approach was used to study six participants who ranged in ages from 44 to 77 years. Each of them had a residual hemiplegia or hemiparesis resulting from a stroke. None was capable of dressing him- self prior to the study. Four or five 15-30 minute sessions were spent with the participants over time periods verying from seven to ten days. Each one could follow simple directions. The time post-stroke ranged from ten days to two years. All the participants made measurable improvement during the study.</p> <p>This study has significance for nursing personnel in various clinical situations. Operant conditioning can be a tool for active nurse participation in helping patients gain self-care skills and hasten the rehabilitation process.</p> <p>Recommendations include: (1) Matching patients with similar perceptual and physical difficulties to determine if reinforcement contingency programs shorten hospitalization; (2) Study a larger group of patients of varying lengths of time post-infarct to determine optimum time for reinforcement programs; (3) An objective appraisal of two individuals at the beginning and at the end of the reinforcement program to rule out bias; (4) Follow up evaluation after an extended period of time to reveal continuation of dressing practice.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Year

1974

Author dc:creator

• Lebo, Opal Ward

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dorothy M. Martin
• Donald R. Miller
• Joyce Reiswig

• Nursing
• Cerebrovascular Disorders -- rehabilitation

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/1041

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-2402