APPENDIX F

BEHAVIOR CHANGE TRAINING METHODOLOGY*

*From M. Moore and J. Hinkle, The Student Couples' Seminar: A Leader's Manual. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University Counseling Center, 1970.

A behavior change training model is presented below in two parts. First, the five steps of the behavior change training model are explained. Then, these steps are illustrated through a specific training procedure from The Student Couples' Seminar: A Leader's Manual.

The five steps in the behavior change training model are:

1. EXPLAIN to those being trained the objectives of your training procedure and exactly what the training procedure entails. That is, tell what you intend to do and why.

2. DEMONSTRATE the training procedure so that the trainees can observe the desired behavior change being reached. This may be accomplished by either of two means: a lecture presentation full of clear examples or an audiovisual model of the behavior change objective effectively being achieved. Either way, the effect is to take the trainees through the training process via ample illustrations.

3. PRACTICE provides the trainees with an opportunity to implement the behavior change objective being taught by role playing their behavior change and/or to practice the behavior change with actual persons or situations toward which the change is directed.

4. PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK occurs in both role playing and actual practice: the FEEDBACK about how well a trainee has PERFORMED the desired behavior change is given by the trainer and/or other trainees.

5. DISCUSSION with trainees, when they compare the training objectives with the practicing they have just finished, allows them an opportunity to INTEGRATE their understanding of the change objective with their own practice experience.

The Good Feedback Communication Exercise used in the CSU marital enrichment workshop illustrates the behavior change model in practice. The exercise consists of two elements: constructing feedback statements to give to one's spouse and actually giving and receiving the feedback statements.

The workshop leader first EXPLAINS element one, the criteria for constructing good feedback statements: "Good feedback statements are (1) descriptive of feelings rather than evaluative of the other person; (2) specific rather than general; and (3) about behavior that can be changed, except when giving complimentary feedback." Actual examples of good feedback statements accompany the explanation explicitly DEMONSTRATING its meaning, i.e., "I feel angry toward you when you don't pick up your clothes in the morning." The trainees are then asked to construct from short descriptions they have previously written about their partners four feedback statements: two complimentary ones and two negative, angry ones.

Element two, the three-step process by which the good feedback statements are given and received, is then EXPLAINED:

Step 1: Partner 1 addresses feedback statement to Partner 2.

Step 2: Partner 2 says, "What I hear you saying to me is . . .," and repeats the statement until Partner 1 indicates that it has been received accurately.

Step 3: Partner 2 then responds to Partner l's feedback statement with "Inside I feel . . . about your statement."

The three-step process is DEMONSTRATED by an audio-tape of a married couple actually giving and receiving positive and negative feedback statements. The demonstration tape offers a model of the communication exercise being performed as explained.

In the next step, trainees PRACTICE giving and sending their own feedback statements as demonstrated, but with partners other than their spouses. In this case, trainees follow the model with less anxiety and better performance by ROLE PLAYING with a practice partner. PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK is given by other couples and the workshop leader. Subsequently, trainees ACTUALLY PRACTICE the good feedback exercise with their own spouses. As in the role-playing situation, PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK is given by the observing couple and the trainer. Finally, all trainees share with each other their affective and cognitive reactions to all the previous steps in the training process. This DISCUSSION facilitates the trainees' INTEGRATION of the training objectives with their own learning experience.