Core Studies: Chaney

• What did it study?

  Contemporary study of the Funhaler and operant conditioning
• Background part 1?

  1. Chaney was interested in operant conditioning, which is the learning of behavioural responses through consequences and rewards. Positive reinforcement is when a reward is given to someone for carrying out desired behaviour, so they repeat this behaviour in the future as they associate it with a reward
  2. Skinner previously did research using a rat in the box with lever. It quickly learnt to knock the lever to dispense food, and they repeated it for a reward of food
• Background part 2?

  3. healthcare practitioners identified an issue with asthmatic kids showing poor adherence to their medical regime. A video-based study found only half of kids surveyed use inhaler correctly.

  Chaney was inspired to create a new asthma spacer device, the Funhaler which has a whistle and spinner as a fun incentive for asthmatic children to take their medication (positive reinforcement) and improve their adherence to medical regime
• What was Chaney's aim?


  to test whether the Funhaler could provide positive reinforcement to improve child asthmatics' adherence to their medical regime compared to normal inhalers
• Research method


  Field experiment in participants homes in Perth, Australia. Repeated measures and the self-report method.
• Describe the sample


  32 children from Perth Australia, 22 male and 10 female. All had asthma for on average 2 years.
• Describe the procedure?


  Children's parents contacted by phone and then visited at home to explain purpose of study. Gained written informed consent then interviewed with questionnaire using Yes/No questions on their current inhaler and its usage. Parents given Funhaler for two weeks in place of conventional spacer device, was to be used by child under adult supervision. The usage was assessed by phoning parents at random times during the study, asked if child had used the Funhaler the previous day. Parents were also visited at the end of the two week period and a 2nd questionnaire was used.
• What were the findings?

  Use of Funhaler associated with improved parental and child compliance

  81% of parents found to have medicated their children the previous day vs 59% for the standard inhaler.

  30% more children took 4 or more deep breaths per aerosol delivery when using Funhaler compared with the standard inhaler.
• What were the conclusions?

  1. operant conditioning through the use of Funhalers is useful for managing the medical regimes of young asthmatics as they encourage adherence to treatment through use of an incentive toy (whistle and spinner) to encourage repetition of the breathing process
  2. use of self-reinforcement strategies can improve the overall health of children