Performance Deficits in Aging Human Service Settings and a Behavior Analytic Approach to Remediation

The staff members working in all human service settings have major effects on the populations in which they are working. Staff enjoyment and their preferences also play a role in their work performance. Work performance, specifically in aging settings, is an understudied area of applied behavioral research. Thus, giving focus to identifying performance deficits may assist with increasing job task enjoyment and improving job performance in human service related positions, especially when incentives for job performance is not available due to limited budgets of non-profit organizations. Studies, to date, have focused much attention on preference instead of actual job performance. The mission of this paper is to further research and professional development by identifying areas of performance deficits in human service positions, and provide a behavior analytic approach to remediate these issues and increase job task performance. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere gratitude is extended to Dr. Jonathan Baker for his insight and continued support of this project.