The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining whether previously untrained, non-professional personnel, in this case mothers, can be trained to undertake and cope with the responsibilities of a play therapy situation with their own children. The hypothesis of this study is that by placing mothers in such a situation, the mother's ability to communicate with her child will be modified as well as modifying the child's perception of her as a warm and accepting parent.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of the reinforcement and punishment techniques in the natural environment, and the effect of their use upon the social interaction between parent and child. It was hypothesized that punishment would be more effective than reward in controlling oppositional behavior, but that reinforcement would be more effective in increasing child-initiated interaction with the parents.

The primary purposes of the present study were (1) to see in which way, if any, the measured attitudes of psychiatric aides employed on geriatric wards differed from those of aides employed on non-geriatric wards at the same hospital; and (2) to explore the relationships between measured attitudes and other variables such as age, education, amount of experience as an aide, amount of experience on either geriatric or non-geriatric wards, and the number of patients per aide on each ward.