Designing Behavioral Technologies with Community Self-Help Organizations

J of App Behav Analysis

Cohen

et al. 1988

Self Cite

Observations of children in automobiles were made in seven states before and after implementation of legislation requiring use of child passenger safety devices. Increases in safe seating for children covered by state laws and children under 1 year old were observed in three of the five states implementing legislation during this study. Decreases in safe seating for these age groups were observed in two states, however. Increases in safe seating for children from 1 to 5 years old were observed in four of these five states. Although methodological limitations require cautious interpretation, these data suggest the impact child safety seat laws may have on compliance. Implications of this research for policies on child passenger safety and the importance of exploiting naturally occurring public experiments are discussed.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Evaluation of Public Policy: The Case of State Legislation for Child Passenger Safety

Seekins

J of App Behav Analysis

Cohen

et al. 1988

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“…Planned change, as an alternative to nonintervention or radical change, is a strategy that uses available knowledge to help solve the problems of individuals and the communities in which they live (Bennis, Benne, Chin, & Corey, 1976). Among these efforts are attempts by behavior analysts to apply behavioral principles to the analysis and solution of problems in open community settings (Briscoe, Hoffman, & Bailey, 1975;Fawcett, Fletcher, Mathews, Whang, Seekins, & Merola, in press; Glenwick & Jason, 1980;Jason, 1977;Neitzel, Winett, MacDonald, & Davidson, 1977).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Some Promising Dimensions for Behavioral Community Technology

J of App Behav Analysis

Mathews

Fletcher

1980

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In recent years, the search for effective and replicable approaches to planned change in communities has escalated. Applied behavior analysts have participated in these efforts to remedy existing community problems and to increase the capacities of community residents to meet their goals. Examples of behavioral technologies for community settings are described and their advantages are noted. Criteria for more contextually appropriate community technologies are suggested and strategies for developing behavioral methods according to these criteria are described. This paper outlines some promising dimensions for behavioral community technology and discusses several possible limitations to a behavioral approach to addressing societal problems.

Development and validation of a community concerns report method

Schriner

1988

J. Community Psychol.

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Although survey research and needs assessment methods have been applied in communities, few systematic and practical methods for structuring the involvement of neighbors in community improvement are available. Systematic procedures for identifying perceived strengths and problems of a locality might be used by neighborhood improvement associations, block organizations, and other citizen groups to set local agendas for community action. The development and validation of a Community Concerns Report method to identify strengths, problems, and ideas for improvement from the perspective of neighborhood residents are described. The validity of the method is examined in a discussion of rating data from consumers and relevant judges, from measures of internal validity, and from measures of correspondence between the concerns identified with this method and with that of a city survey. Test‐retest reliability of the method is examined in measurements from repeated administrations of the instrument. The steps of the method are detailed, and its usefulness as a tool for locality development is discussed.