Miller's (1983) system of ‘motivational interviewing’ is elaborated by providing a theoretical context for understanding its impact, with a summary of research on motivational interventions. An extension of this approach, the Drinker's Check-up (DCU), is described as a potential intervention for health screening, treatment selection and matching, cleint self-assessment, and research. Initial data from a sample of 42 problem drinkers receiving the DCU suggest that this intervention may increase help-seeking and modestly suppress alcohol consumption. This approach is interpreted within the broader context of research on minimal interventions for problem drinkers.

The majority of investigations in the literature have concluded that body image is a relatively fixed phenomenon, the juvenile onset of obesity often being associated with a body image distortion which is presumed to be especially impervious to change (Stunkard and Burt, 1967; Hirsch, 1972). Nevertheless, the evidence for this suggestion is not conclusive (Collins et al., 1983), and is challenged by the findings of the present study. When subjected to regular videofeedback over a period of approximately four months, one group of obese subjects successfully lost weight, and appeared to improve the accuracy of their body image estimates. Another group of obese subjects who underwent a behaviour modification programme over the same period also lost weight and showed a lessening of body image distortion at the end of this intervention, but the changes observed between assessments were much greater for the video group. Some individuals in both treatment conditions had experienced juvenile-onset obesity. The fact that those who received videofeedback also showed improvement in terms of body image assessment and weight loss lends added support to the suggestion that the experience of videofeedback is therapeutic for the obese.

Considerable concern has been expressed about the quality of care provided for mentally handicapped children living in hospitals. Current policies aim to relocate these children in community settings, giving them a lifestyle as near as possible to that in an ordinary home. Studies of mentally handicapped children living in hospital have all shown that the quality of care is poor, but comparative studies of the quality of care provided for mentally handicapped children living at home have not been carried out. This paper reports a comparative observational study of the quality of care provided for profoundly mentally handicapped children living in a long-stay hospital with a match group who live at home. The rate and content of naturally occurring interaction patterns between nursing staff or family members and the children were observed during the hour after arrival home from school. The results show major differences between the two settings in terms of the types of behaviour exhibited by the children, the frequency and nature of attention given to the children and the quality of the interactions between the children and their carers. In all areas the children living at home fair better. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Group training in anxiety management was compared with individual general practitioner appointments as a means of reducing dosage of benzodiazepines. Subjects were encouraged to withdraw at their own pace. Drug reduction, self-ratings of anxiety, depression and Health Locus of Control comprised the outcome measures. Process changes were recorded using visual analogue scales, and daily diary records. At the end of a six-week intervention period, the average dosage had significantly reduced in both groups. This reduction was maintined at a 15-week follow-up. There were no other differences in outcome between conditions. Although subjects reported a variety of symptoms during drug withdrawal, their occurrence was not significantly associated with the degree of dosage reduction.

The 28 patients in the Linton et al. (1985) outcome study were contacted for a 20-month follow-up. The follow-up was superimposed on a three-group design consisting of a waiting-list control, a regular treatment group, and a “behavioural” group receiving the regular treatment plus applied relaxation and operant-activities training. Measures similar to the ones used in the original study were employed, in addition to a follow-up questionnaire concerning work, health status, activity level, pain ratings, medicine use, and sleep. Ninety-three per cent of the original patients participated in the follow-up. In general, improvements were maintained by the behavioural group. Specifically, results indicated that the group receiving applied relaxation and operant-activities training had significantly larger improvements with regard to pain and activity at follow-up than the control groups. Moreover, an overall analysis of variance showed that the behavioural group differed significantly from the other two groups. The results definitely suggest that the positive effects of the behavioural programme were maintained at follow-up.

The latency of the self-injurious behaviour of a severely handicapped, Down's-syndrome boy, aged 9 years, was increased by a factor greater than three. Vibration was presented as the reinforcer in a discrete-trial, DRI-schedule procedure in which the incompatible response was physically prompted. A single-subject, ABAB design was used. It is suggested that the DRI schedule used in this way is a valuable initial procedure for decreasing self-injurious behaviour to a level where other procedures may then be applied.

A case study is described which illustrates the use of behavioural techniques in a family intervention where the patient had been diagnosed as having schizophrenia. The relative merits of behavioural techniques and the difficulties encountered in applying them are noted.