Effects of the Beanfee token economy software on students´ persistent problem behavior and lack of academic engagement

This study examined the effects of individualized token reinforcement systems conducted through the Benfee software, on persistent behavioral problems of middle school students. Participants were three boys and one girl, ages 11–13, exhibiting excessive disruptive behavior and lack of academic engagement, in four classrooms in a public school in the capital area of Iceland. Individualized Beanfee programs were designed for each participant in collaboration with their parents and primary teachers. Information from the teachers was used to set behavioral goals according to classroom rules and expectations. Reaching set goals led to students receiving tokens, „beans“, which they could use to purchase rewards in the Beanstore within the Beanfee program. The parents chose a variety of rewards that were available in the Beanstore and provided the researcher with information about their child's favorite characters to personalize achievement badges in the Beanfee program. The participants assessed and self-monitored their target behaviors and marked if they had achieved their goal at the end of every class. The teachers also assessed the participant's behavior in the same class, marked whether the set goal was achieved. Parents could check teacher and student assessments through the Beanfee software at home, and when their children had earned and selected rewards in the Beanstore they would provide the backup reinforcers at home. The intervention for each participant lasted 1- 4 weeks. Teachers´ procedural fidelity was assessed in 100% of all measurements and was 89,6% on average. Target behaviors were measured with direct observation. The duration of academic engagement was measured with a stopwatch, from when the engagement began until it ended. disruptive behavior was measured with frequency recording. Inter-rater reliability was assessed in 35% of all baseline measurements and 30% of all intervention phase measurements and was 95% on average. During the baseline phase, the average frequency of disruptive behavior for all participants was 52.2 per 15-minute observations. After the intervention had been implemented for all participants, the frequency of disruptive behavior decreased on average to 5.2 per 15-minute observations (90% decrease in disruptive behavior overall). Academic engagement went from 21% on average for all participants during baseline phases to 73% after the intervention had been implemented (349% increase in academic engagement overall). Questionnaires on the paricipants‘ experience with the Beanfee software revealed high social validity of the intervention. These results indicate that individualized Beanfee token reinforcement systems, implemented through collaboration of teachers, students and parents, can reduce persistent disruptive behavior and promote academic engagement for students in general education classrooms.

Author dc:creator

• Helga Magnea Gunnlaugsdóttir 1996-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskóli Íslands

• Meistaraprófsritgerðir
• Hagnýt atferlisgreining
• Þverfræðilegt framhaldsnám
• Beanfee token economy
• Hugbúnaður
• Markmið
• Miðstig grunnskóla
• Hegðunarvandamál

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1946/43390

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/43390