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. 1969 Spring;2(1):39–42. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1969.2-39

Behavioral engineering: the use of response priming to improve prescribed self-medication1

N H Azrin 1,2, J Powell 1,2
PMCID: PMC1311034  PMID: 16795200

Abstract

A major problem in outpatient treatment has been the extreme irregularity with which patients use medication prescribed for them. As a new approach to resolving this problem, a portable operant apparatus was developed based on response priming and escape reinforcement. The apparatus sounded a tone at the time that a pill was to be taken. When the user turned a knob to terminate the tone, the apparatus delivered the pill into the user's hand. The apparatus was evaluated with six normal adults using a medically inert pill. A greater proportion of the pills were taken by each subject when using the special apparatus as compared with the use of a portable alarm timer or the usual wristwatch. These results demonstrate a new approach for increasing the regularity of self-administration of medicines.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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