Personal Behavioral Contract Report
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Rowan University *
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Health Science
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Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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Uploaded by ChefFog21472
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Behavior Contract
“Restricting Daily Caffeine Consumption”
Kaitlyn Stokes
Ball State University
SPE 610 S805
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Behavior Contract “Restricting Daily Caffeine Consumption”
Operational Definition
This behavioral contract is being written to minimize the daily consumption by Kaitlyn
Stokes. Kaitlyn will only consume 1-2 caffeinated beverages a day for 6 weeks in an attempt to
limit the intake of daily caffeine for Kaitlyn. Drinking caffeine is defined as “putting caffeinated
beverages in a cup, up to your mouth and swallowing the beverage”. Caffeinated beverages
include coffee drinks, iced tea, energy drinks, and soda. A week is considered by 7 consecutive
days. Each week is considered over on Sunday, which is Day 7. The goal is to only consume 1-2
caffeinated beverages per day on 5-6 of the days.
Identification of Measurement System
For this contract, All caffeinated drinks will be tracked using a drink tracker log. Each
day for 6 weeks, Kaitlyn will track the number of caffeinated beverages consumed from AM to
PM. Monday is Day 1 of each week and Sunday is Day 7 of each week. Kaitlyn’s husband, Ryan
Shook, was assigned as the supporter for the caffeine restriction. He will monitor whether the log
is being charted correctly and monitor the number of caffeinated beverages consumed each day.
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
The Criterion to Meet Goal
To meet the goal for the week (5- 6 days of successfully consuming only 1-2 caffeinated
drinks a day), Kaitlyn will document each time/day where she successfully only consumed 1-2
caffeinated drinks a day. Documentation of the caffeine restriction will be collected on the table
attached at the end of this document. Kaitlyn is considered in a baseline period when 2 or more
caffeinated beverages were consumed for 3 days or more consecutively.
Consequences for Meeting and Not Meeting Goal
Each day Kaitlyn consumes only 1-2x caffeinated beverages a day, Kaitlyn will be
rewarded with 10 dollars, which she can use at her choosing at the end of the 6 weeks. Kaitlyn
can earn a total of 420 dollars if successful every day each week. Motivation for the behavior
includes earning money for shopping or vacations.
For every day during the week that Kaitlyn does not restrict her caffeine intake to 1-2
drinks a day, she will receive a -, which indicated no reward given that day. Example: If Kaitlyn
drinks 2-3 or 3-4 caffeinated drinks a day, she will not receive her 10-dollar reward. If Kaitlyn
only restricts caffeine intake for 3 out of 7 days, she will only receive 30 dollars instead of 70. If
Kaitlyn misses one day, the reinforcement of monetary rewards decreases. The more days that
pass where Kaitlyn is not successful in restricting caffeine intake, the harder the reinforcement
will be to obtain.
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Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Formal Contract
I will consume 1-2x caffeinated beverages a day for 6 weeks. Drinking caffeine is defined as
“putting caffeinated beverages in a cup, up to your mouth and swallowing the beverage”.
Caffeinated beverages include coffee drinks, iced tea, energy drinks, and soda. A week is
considered by 7 consecutive days. Each week is considered over on Sunday, which is Day 7.
When the daily goal has been achieved, I will earn a + which is a $10 reward. I potentially can
earn $420 by reaching my goal every day for the next 6 weeks.
Every day that I successfully drink 1-2 caffeinated beverages. I earn a plus. When a + is
placed in the box, it means I have successfully achieved the restriction goal. If there is a – in the
box, it means the restriction goal was not achieved for that day.
+ = 10-dollar reward
-
= no reward
Signed
___
Kaitlyn Stokes
______
Date __5-27-23_
Supporter:
___RYAN SHOOK (Husband)_____
Date___5-27-23_
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Caffeine Tracking Log: Log Key:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Total +
earned
each
week
Total –
given
each
week
Week
1
4
-
4
-
3
-
2
+
3
-
4
-
3
-
1
6
Week
2
2
+
2
+
3
-
3
-
2
+
4
-
3
-
3
4
Week
3
2
+
2
+
2
+
3
-
3
-
4
-
2
+
4
3
Week
4
3
-
3
-
3
-
4
-
3
-
3
-
2
+
1
6
Week
5
2
+
3
-
2
+
2
+
3
-
2
+
1
+
5
2
Week
6
1
+
1
+
2
+
2
+
3
-
2
+
1
+
5
2
#
of caffeinated drinks per day
+ or – given for that day
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Journal Entries
Week 1
This week was such a high-demand struggle. Honestly, there was no way I was able to
stay on top of my caffeine consumption. I was sick at the beginning of the week and then all my
school work and work piled up. I became sleep deprived quickly, which lead to me getting
multiple iced coffees to make it through the workday and then being able to come home and do
all of my school work. My husband attempted to reinforce my caffeine consumption, but towards
the middle of the week, which made me try to be conscious of the consumption which led to a +
day.
Week 2
I don’t know what happened this week. Looking back on the beginning of the week, I felt
like I was on top of limiting caffeine consumption and then got overwhelmed by Wednesday.
Over the weekend, my husband and I had plans with friends so my caffeine consumption went up
and I did not end on a good week. After being overwhelmed on Wednesday, I attempted to limit
my consumption on Thursday, which was successful.
Week 3
I started the week strong and truly felt like I was managing my caffeine consumption
well. Unfortunately, my dad had a life-saving surgery and I spent a lot of time in and out of the
hospital and fell behind on a lot of my other priorities, so I struggled to stay on top of caffeine
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Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
consumption. I spent Saturday pushing through hours upon hours of work, which is what caused
the heightened caffeine consumption.
Week 4
Life has been so utterly crazy lately, I feel like my data isn’t 100% accurate as there were
a few days where I feel like I consumed more than what was put in the chart. I also feel like the
one + I did get during this week, may not be accurate either. If I could, I wish I could restart this
week all over.
Week 5
This week felt more organized and I felt like I was able to stay on top of monitoring and
limiting my caffeine consumption. One day there was a – because my husband and I has gone
out and the other was due to cramming in work, but I felt much more successful with my caffeine
consumption this week.
Week 6
I feel like this was my best week yet. I became more conscious of not grabbing the 2
nd
or
3
rd
cup of coffee in the late morning and I tried to limit my soda consumption around lunch,
midday, and dinner time. Other than the Friday night out, I was able to stay on track and my
husband was able to keep me accountable throughout the week too.
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Results Analysis
At the beginning of the contract, I did not have high hopes for successfully decreasing my
caffeine intake. I struggle with multiple coffees a day, a soda in the afternoon, and an alcoholic
beverage containing some sort of caffeine either while out or during the weekend. Overall, I felt
like I would’ve only struggled with limiting my caffeine consumption the first two weeks but in
reality, it was more like 3-4 weeks before I was able to pay attention to the contract and stay on
top of collecting accurate data, and working diligently to get a + every day. I had a printout of the
chart to use as a “token board” to guide me throughout the week, but I feel as though I didn’t
always pay attention to it. It is possible that my behavior contract did not see the most effective
results due to some of the features not being the most developed. Some of the major features of
behavior contracts include (a) clearly stating the behavior expectations regarding the behavior
change, (b) incorporating rewards for adhering to the contract, and (c) consequences for not
meeting the expectations (Bowman-Perrott et. al, 2014). While I took the time to map out the
behavior expectations of my contract and then set out the reward, the only consequence that was
there was not receiving money or a + for the day. While not receiving the reward on a minus day,
I was still employed and making money, so to me, it felt like there was no real consequence, or
the consequence was not reinforced enough. Bowman-Perrott et. al, (2014), suggests that
behavior contracts in home settings can be effective for maintaining household responsibilities.
I think in the future for behavior contracts my goal setting needs to be more specific and
the goal needs to be a little bit more challenging. Ruth (1998), describes that goal setting is a
Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
motivational technique that increases the task effort of an individual. For the maximum output of
a goal within a behavior contract, the goals need to be specific to where the criteria are
measured, monitored, and understood. The goals also have to be challenging but not impossible.
This is where I feel like was part of my not so effective, because consuming less caffeine was
hard, but it wasn’t challenging. The data showed that I was challenged, but in reality, the days
that I got a + were simple enough, that I did not feel challenged enough to keep up with the
consistency of minimizing my caffeine intake because of the simplicity of achieving the goal.
Because it was easy, I found myself thinking, “I can do this no problem” and often pushing my
tracking off because of the simplicity. Then easily find myself at the end of every day going, “Oh
no, I forgot to track today!” And although I feel like there was a success rate with my behavior
contract, I could have seen higher results without the limitations of challenging goal setting,
environmental conditions, self-reporting, and reward and consequence contingencies.
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Running Head: BEHAVIOR CONTRACT
Resources
Bowman-Perrott, L., Burke, M. D., de Marin, S., Zhang, N., & Davis, H. (2014).
A Meta-
Analysis of Single-Case Research on Behavior Contracts. Behavior Modification, 39(2), 247–
269.
doi:10.1177/0145445514551383
Ruth, W. J. (1998).
Goal setting and behavior contracting for students with emotional and
behavioral difficulties: Daily, weekly, and total goal attainment analysis. Psychology in the
Schools, 33(2), 153–158.
doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6807(199604)33:2<153::aid-pits8>3.0.co;2-s