Token Economy

Question 1

token economy

Answer 1

.behaviourist therapeutic app. to the management of sch.
.tokens rewarded for demonstrations of desired behavioural changes
.mainly used w long term hospitalised patients - enables them to leave hospital and live relativelyy independently
.paart. aimed at tackling neg. symptoms

Question 2

what technique is used

Answer 2

.operant conditioning - patients receive reinforcements in the form of tokens immediately after producing desired beh.
.tokens can then be after exchanged for goods/privileges

Question 3

example of desired beh.

Answer 3

.self care, adherence to medication regime, social interaction

Question 4

study to support

Answer 4

.ayllon and azrin - token econ. successful technique when used w female sch. patients hospitalised for average of 16 years
.rewarded w tokens tha could be exchanged for viewing a film, visiting canteen for beh. e.g. brushing hair, making bed
.average no. of daily chores rose from 5 to 42 - shows success of token econ in getting patients to be more responsible for themselves

Question 5

eval

Answer 5

• Token economies work best in unison with antipsychotic drugs and other personalised psychotherapeutic treatments. This should therefore not be seen as a treatment for schizophrenia in itself.
• A negative effect of long-term hospitalisation for schizophrenics is institutionalisation, where patients lack motivation and become apathetie, attracting the contempt of nursing staff. So one unforeseen advantage of token economies is patients becoming more independent and active, which has the knock-on effect of nurses’ increase regard for the patients, leading to the patients becoming even more motivated and developing positive self-regard.
• Another unforeseen advantage of token economies is that their use facilitates a safer and more stable therapeutic environment. Staff and patient injuries reduce, thus decreasing staff absenteeism and emergency incident levels.
• The problem with token economies is desirable behaviour becomes dependent on being reinforced; upon release in the community, reinforcements cease, leading to high res admittance rates.
• A strength of token economies is that they can be tailored to meet the individual requirements of different patients, as the technique uses the same principles but to target different behaviour. This means that the technique has flexibility, allowing it to be used in a variety of settings.
• Token economies are not favoured by all clinicians, due to perceptions that participation in them is humiliating and that their benefits do not generalise to real-life settings.