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There are a number of psychological methods that can be used to gain control in a situation that needs order, such as a prison or in this case, an uncooperative group of elderly people. These include techniques such as token economy programmes and anger management programmes; also ECT can be considered.
Token economy programmes are a form of behaviour modification based on the principles of operant conditioning. It was originally created as a behaviour modification method; however it is now just usually used to maintain good behaviour in prison settings. It can be applied to the nursing home situation as it will encourage cooperative behaviour because they will be gaining tokens for good behaviour, which will eventually result in a reward. For example if the elderly people cooperate with the rules and do not be disruptive for a day, they will receive a token. If they receive 5 tokens they will be rewarded with something such as being able to stay up later to watch their chosen programme on a chosen day. The residents will also receive more privileges and treats than they normally would have, if they cooperate with the guidelines of the programme. The nurses might try and reward cooperative behaviour and completely ignore undesired behaviour, as it may be the attention which the residents are looking for.
Token economy programmes may be preferred over punishment because the nurses may be inclined to remove privileges and even basic needs or desires. This has been shown to be not as successful as positive reinforcement and can also be seen as unethical if abused, e.g. taking away the option to call home to a family member. Field et al found out that if you applied special TEP’s with more rewards and tokens it would work for people with behavioural problems that hadn’t responded to other treatments. A practical strength of token economy programmes is