Chaney Et Al. (2004)

Front 1

Background

Back 1

Asthma - a condition where people have difficulty breathing and require extra assistance through mediciation, such as an inhaler.

Children often struggled with using inhalers, and the spacers used to help were not as effective. Chaney et al. wanted to use positive reinforcement to ease parents worries and aid children in breathing in the mediciation more effectively.

Front 2

Aim

Back 2

To see if the use of operant conditioning can be used to encourage children to use their inhalers, as well as more properly.

Front 3

Sample

Back 3

32 children from Australia - 22 boys and 10 girls - ages 1½ to 6 years old.

They were recruited from seven paediatric or GP clinics within a 51km radius of Perth, Western Australia. The clinics spanned differing socio-economic and geographical areas.

Front 4

Name of the new Inhaler they came up with?

Back 4

The Funhaler! (Fun + inhaler)

Hint 4

Front 5

Procedure - step 1

Back 5

They were contacted through their phone and were asked to take part in the study. They were asked questions, through a questionnaire, regarding the current inhalers they use (Aerochamber and Breath-a-tech). They were asked their attitudes on them, the frequency of medication administered to the children, etc.

Front 6

Procedure - step 2

Back 6

Parents were given the cool new Funhaler! They were assigned to use it for 2 weeks to see any changes and / or improvements in the childrens attitude towards using them and whether the way they were using them was more correct.

Front 7

Procedure - step 3

Back 7

Parents were given another questionnaire regarding the funhaler. They were asked on their and their children's attitudes towards the funhaler, whether it increased frequency of medication administered and so on.

Front 8

Findings - behavioural

Back 8

Using the previous inhalers, it's stated that only 50% of children achieved the desired 4 or more breath cycles.

Using the funhaler, 80% of children were able to achieve the desired number of breath cycles.

Front 9

Findings - attitudes

Back 9

Parents were only 10% happy with their experience with the previous inhalers' spacer. With the funhaler, parents were 61% happier.

Front 10

Nature or Nurture?

Back 10

Nurture, as the children were given a stimulus to encourage the use of the inhaler, meaning they had been taught by their environment (the funhaler) to do the correct action.

Front 11

Freewill or determinism?

Back 11

Deterministic as the funhaler was the decider for whether they were to use the inhaler and the correct breathing technique.

Front 12

How does this link the developmental area and behaviourist perspective?

Back 12

The experiment follows the idea that we are born tabula rasa (a blank slate) and requires the use of reinforcements (operant conditioning) to achieve/ecourage a certain behaviour. This was also done on children.