View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College 173 Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College (JRMC); 2020; 24(2): 173-179 Review Article The Implication of Positive Reinforcement Strategy in dealing with Disruptive Behaviour in the Classroom: A Scoping Review Aisha Rafi1, Ambreen Ansar2, Muneeza Amir Sami3 1 Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, 3 Instructor, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad. Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad. 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt. Author`s Contribution Corresponding Author Article Processing 1 Conception of study Dr. Aisha Rafi Received: 03/1/2020 1 Experimentation/Study conduction Associate Professor, Accepted: 15/5/2020 1,2 Analysis/Interpretation/Discussion Department of Anatomy, 1,2 Manuscript Writing Shifa College of Medicine, 2,3 Critical Review Islamabad 2,3 Critical Review Email: [email protected] Cite this Article: Rafi, A., Ansar, A. & Sami, Conflict of Interest: Nil Access Online: M.A.(2020). The Implication of Positive Reinforcement Funding Source: Nil Strategy in dealing with Disruptive Behaviour in the Classroom: A Scoping Review. 24(2), 173-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37939/jrmc.v24i2.1190 Abstract The scoping review study was carried out from January 18, 2019, to February 18, 2019, by following the Arksey and O'Malley method of scoping review. An extensive search in the bibliographic databases, PubMed, ERIC, and Google scholar for the gray literature was done. The search was narrowed by a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The studies included in the literature search were sort by the PRISMA flow chart. The selected studies address the use of a positive reinforcement strategy to manage disruptive behavior in the classroom. The positive reinforcement strategies identified were praise (41%), feedback (33%), and other classroom management studies (25%). Skinner's operant learning principle has a classroom implication for increasing the likelihood of the desired behavior. The results of the review can be used to implement evidence-based practice and policy regarding improving the desired behavior in the classroom. Keywords: Behaviorist paradigm, Operant conditioning, disruptive behavior. 174 Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College (JRMC); 2020; 24(2): 173-179 Introduction Material & Methods The problem behavior among the undergraduate and The scoping review methodology is adapted from the high school children has always been a great challenge six-staged framework by Arksey and O’Malley.5 for the academic institutions and the parents alike Search Strategy causing a bad impact on society at large. This issue can The search strategy was based on the development of be solved by encouraging the positive relationships key search terms and their synonyms. The key terms within the institution by creating awareness about the were developed that best describe the research social behavior of the students and the introduction of question. student-friendly disciplinary codes.1 Table 1: Most of the research on problem behavior is based on Key Search terms Synonyms the behavior management theory presented by Positive reinforcement Positive behavior 2 Frederic Skinner. He introduced the concept of strategy reinforcement/operant conditioning to change Operant conditioning Skinnerian’s operant disruptive or encourage desirable behavior in an conditioning individual. Skinner believed that a desirable learning Disruptive behavior in Problematic behavior in outcome is possible if we can change the learner's class class 3 behavior. The prevention of problem behavior in an Challenging behavior of Attitude problems in academic institution now has become an educational students students policy. Skinner’s behaviorist theory can guide the teaching practices that ultimately result in the The databases searched were ERIC, PubMed, and development of a desired behavior and improvement Google Scholar (for gray literature). The search was in learning.3 filtered by considering the published data for the past A scoping review study was carried out on Skinner's ten years (2009-2019). Studies conducted on humans theory of operant conditioning for the identification of and articles published in the English language were knowledge gaps and implications of theory to practice. considered. Higher education was preferred. A The rationale for the scoping review was to guide the customized search string for every database further policy and practice in managing disruptive behavior in narrowed the results. A search on Google with no date the classroom. Its study aims to make evidence-based restrictions was carried out and only the first five web recommendations for the pedagogical, organizational, pages containing the relevant articles were selected. administrative, and instructional policies. It also focuses on tailoring the operant learning strategies to Eligibility Criteria the needs of the learners with difficult behavior on an Inclusion Criteria: equitable basis. • Articles published in the last ten years were included. Objectives of the Study: • The scoping review was limited to the change 1. To map the literature on educational in behavior consequent upon positive reinforcement. innovations based on positive reinforcement • The intervention studies aiming to measure theory for managing disruptive behavior in the change in behavior. the classroom. • The studies addressing behavior management 2. To find teacher-centered approaches with reinforcement. principled on positive reinforcement in Exclusion Criteria: counteracting the disruptive behavior in the • Articles published in a language other than classroom. English were not included. • Conference presentations and posters, book Research Questions: reviews, editorials were not included. 1. How disruptive behavior in the classroom can • The study addressing the disruptive be managed by the application of a positive behavior with the diagnosed psychiatric or mental reinforcement strategy? illness or disease was excluded. 2. What various teaching strategies are applied • The operant conditioning dealing with for dealing with disruptive behavior in the punishment was not included. classroom? 175 Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College (JRMC); 2020; 24(2): 173-179 Screening inclusion criteria so all those studies concerned with Level I screening entailed screening of the titles only. the management of problem behavior in children with The secondary search terms were used to retrieve the disabilities were excluded.8,9,10 Some of the non- specific data from the databases e.g. terms like relevant citations were rejected because the disruptive behavior in the classroom, reinforcement reinforcement strategy was based on social cognitive strategies, classroom management strategies were theory instead of operant conditioning.11 Some of the used. Although some of the search terms produce citations were about the kindergarten school irrelevant results those terms were included for the children.12 sake of decreasing the chance of eliminating relevant Although some of the abstracts contain search terms articles. like disruptive behavior, challenging behavior, etc. but Level II screening was carried out for the title and they were later on excluded due to non-relevance to abstracts fulfilling the inclusion criteria. the objective of the study. Level III screening was done for full-text article PRISMA flow diagram for the search strategy review. The full-text articles that were not available PRISMA flow chart reports the results of the number online were obtained through the RIPHAH library and of articles/reports/reviews searched, selected, library of Shifa tamer-e-Millat University (STMU). screened, and finally reviewed for analysis. The reference list of articles screened for the final review was manually explored by both authors to find out any other relevant articles addressing the research question. Citation management All the included reviews were imported in Mendeley reference manager software and kept within the specific database folders. The duplicate citations were removed at the time of screening. Data Characterization (Charting the data) A data extraction form was developed according to the standard review form.7 The data extraction form contains some standardized information about the included reviews; details about the author, year of publication, the objective of the study, intervention used for positive reinforcement, and findings relevant to the research query. The authors reviewed the articles and the characteristics of the full-text articles were extracted. Collating, summarizing and reporting the results PRISMA flow diagram for relevant study identification and final selection of citations A total of 657 records were identified in the electronic Figure 1: databases. 15 records were identified through other sources, Google, manual search. There were 300 General characteristics of the included literature: duplicate studies and 325 studies were non-relevant. The quantitative analysis of the data showed Only 45 articles fulfilled the eligibility criteria, out of the number and percentage of the included which 21 were excluded due to the non-availability of reviews. full-text articles. Only 24 full-text articles were The general characteristics of the available reviewed. publications include the type of publication, The selected work on the behaviorism paradigm is year of publication, target population, sector, from