Smoking Case Study Of Smoking

The participant, M.M., exhibits the non-functional behaviour of excess smoking of cigarettes. The behaviour first started in late adolescence by means of social learning. The target behaviour occurred predominately when M.M. was alone at home, on her balcony and occasionally when she was away from home, with friends who also smoked, at night. Using her laptop, studying, drinking beverages and feelings of boredom or stress, were acting as triggers for M.M. to elicit the behaviour. M.M. was lacking a consistent sleeping routine and was prone to fatigue. Thus, the subject sometimes drank coffee to compensate and was often stressed. The subject was at University, causing her to spend a lot of time studying, which led to additional stress.
M.M.’s cigarette smoking was positively reinforced by slight increases in her concentration and feelings of confidence in social situations. The behaviour was negatively reinforced by slight reductions in her stress levels and feelings of boredom and by alleviating her cravings.
The behaviour was positively punished through negative comments made by others about the smell of cigarette smoke, M.M.’s feelings of embarrassment about her behaviour and by the consequence of having an increased susceptibility to chronic illness. Her cigarette smoking was also negatively punished through her reduced finances, impaired cardiovascular fitness and her probable reduction in lifespan.
Discussion
The aim of this case study was to complete a functional analysis of M.M.’s cigarette smoking behaviour, in order to develop an individualized behavioural intervention. The most salient points from the SORCK were firstly, that the context of M.M. being alone, at home and on her balcony was increasing the likelihoo...

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... this treatment plan would only work if M.M. was committed to it. The restriction to typically available reinforcers, the maintaining of the star chart and the implementing of the aversive elements, may become too rigours for M.M. Thus, it may reduce her compliance to the intervention.
A limitation of this study in terms of the self-monitoring period was the reactivity of observing oneself. There were the odd occasions during the self-monitoring period, where M.M. found herself withholding from smoking another cigarette because she felt the current tally for the day was too great already. Therefore the results cannot be seen as being a completely accurate account of the frequency of M.M.s smoking behavior.
Despite these limitations, this study has demonstrated how an intervention specific to M.M.’s smoking behavior could be achieved through a functional analysis.