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Do Operant Treatments of Chronic Pain Adhere to Precepts of Behavioural Analysis?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Drifa Hardardottir ,
Jack E. James  and
Neville Owen
Drifa Hardardottir
Affiliation:
The University of Adelaide and The Pain Management Unit, Flinders Medical Centre
Jack E. James
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia
Neville Owen
Affiliation:
The University of Adelaide
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Abstract

Fordyce's (1976) analysis of pain behaviour provides a framework for evaluating the extent to which empirical studies of the operant treatment of chronic pain have adhered to appropriate behaviour–analytic principles. These are the identification of target behaviours and their reinforcing contingencies, the specification of individualised reinforcers to be used in treatment, and the generalisation and maintenance of treatment effects. Twenty-five studies that reported having used an operant approach in the management of chronic pain problems were reviewed. With one exception, none of the studies reported sufficient data to indicate the degree of adherence to behaviour–analytic principles. Until more such data are reported, it will continue to be difficult to determine clearly those factors that contribute to the efficacy of operant approaches to chronic pain management.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 1988 , pp. 153 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1988

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