A token economy program applied to chronic psychiatric inpatients with cognitive deterioration

Abstract

This article describes a Token Economy group intervention in a long-term psychiatric inpatients unit. The document offers a detailed account about the intervention conception and methodology adapted to 10 participants with several diagnoses. A general evaluation shows positive results concerning appropriate behaviour and a decrease of inadequate behaviour. This intervention was particularly efficient concerning the improvement in the facial and verbal behavior of the participants. We conclude that, in this study, the Token Economy was efficient towards the bizarre behaviours, even considering the high cognitive deterioration deficits in most participants. The majority of these studies were implemented more than forty years ago. The comparison of new studies with previous ones, however, is important, due to the changes in hospital settings as well as in pharmacological therapies.