Behavioral Assignments and Skill Training

Another technique for increasing client involvement is behavioral assignments, home practice activities that support the goals of a therapeutic intervention. Behavioral assignments are designed to provide continuity in the treatment of a behavioral problem, and typically these assignments follow up points in the therapeutic session. For example, if an early therapy session with an obese client involved training in self-monitoring, the client would be encouraged to keep a log of his or her eating behavior, including the circumstances in which it occurred. This log could then be use by the therapist and the patients at the next session to plan future behavioral interventions. It includes homework assignments for both client and therapist. This technique can ensure that both parties remain committed to the behavior-change process and that each is aware of the other's commitment. In addition, writing down homework assignments appears to be more successful than verbal agreements, in that it provides a clear record of what has been agreed to.

The value of systematic homework assignments is widely recognized in the treatment of behaviors. A survey of programs for the treatment of health problems indicated that 75% of obesity programs, 71% of physical illness and rehabilitation programs, and 54% of smoking programs included behavioral assignments.
In summary, the chief advantages of behavioral assignments are that:

1. The client becomes involved in the treatment process,
2. The client produces an analysis of the behavior that is useful in planning further interventions,
3. The client becomes committed to the treatment process through a contractual agreement to discharge certain responsibilities,
4. Responsibility for behavioral change is gradually shifted to the client, and
5. The use of homework assignments increases the client's sense of self-control

Increasingly, psychologist have realized that some poor health habits develop in response to or are maintained by the anxiety people experience in social situations. For example, adolescents often begin o smoke in order to reduce their social anxiety by communicating a cool, sophisticated image drinking and overeating may also be response o social anxiety. As a result, individual may need to learn alternative ways of coping with anxiety at the same time that they are altering their faulty habit.

A number of programs designed to later health habits include either social skills training or assertiveness training, or both, as part of the intervention package. Individuals are trained in methods that will help them deal more effectively with social anxiety. The goals of social skills programs as an ancillary technique in a program of health behavior change are

1. To reduce anxiety that occurs in social situations
2. To introduce new skills for dealing with situations that previously aroused anxiety and
3. To provide an alternative behavior for the poor health habit that arouse in response to social anxiety

Reference: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/500800