Self-Monitoring

Most of your clients will have behaviors that they need or want to change. In fact, most people want to increase or decrease different behaviors for a variety of reasons. This assignment is to target a behavior that you would like to change, create a self-monitoring form for that behavior and any associated variables (think functional assessment), and use it. THE BEHAVIOR THAT NEEDS CHANGE IS IN THE PARENTHESIS (GOING TO BED EARLY JUST TO WATCH SOCIAL MEDIA REELS ON THE PHONE UNTIL LATE AT NIGHT THEN COMPLAINING TIRED THE NEXT DAY)
• Design/Create a brief self-monitoring form for yourself.
o Identify the target behavior that you believe should be monitored.
 What variables about this target behavior should be monitored?
• Frequency?
• Duration?
• Events just prior?
• Emotions (before, after)?
• Time of day?
o In your design, consider ease of use, appropriate variables, etc.
o Write clear instructions (this might be useful for a client one day!). Include both the self-monitoring form and your instructions with your homework submission.
• Discuss the rationale behind each methodological choice. In other words, you likely need to monitor multiple variables…identify and defend each variable that you are monitoring. Why did you choose each variable? Give the rationale. Note that functional assessment is core to this assignment.
o How does this self-monitoring fit into possible treatment, or in this case, how will this self-monitoring effort help to increase or decrease your targeted behavior?
o How do the different areas of the instrument fit into your assessment and eventual change/treatment? Is it related to change at all?
• Adolescents are notorious for not completing self-monitoring forms. If you were 16 years old, how would you increase the chances of actually completing the form? Refer to your text.
• Use the self-monitoring form for three (3) days.
• Critique your measure. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this type of self-monitoring measure, in terms of psychometrics and potential reporting biases, in general and in reference to your measure. Include a discussion of your reaction to completing the instrument, such as practicality, ease of use, etc. How will the measure add to your assessment and/or treatment? How could you improve it?