Influencing behavior to improve attendance at occupational therapy in a psychiatric setting.

In order to increase attendance at occupational therapy of acute psychiatric patients, two reinforcement procedures were tried: Procedure 1 used prompting and social reinforcement, where Procedure 2, in addition, used a positive reinforcer. The two procedures increased both the attendance and the percentage of time used significantly when compared to baseline. The results are discussed in terms of applications and consistency with other findings.