 Dr. Thomas A. Brigham has been a major contributor to the understanding of self-management and self-control by taking such basic research findings as those on choice and preference and effectively extending them to applications among young people. He has published 53 papers and 7 books, including co-editing the influential Handbook of Applied Behavioral Research. He has served as Associate Editor of Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, The Behavior Analyst, and Behavioral Interventions. Dr. Brigham has held several distinguished positions, including an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand and a Senior Visiting Fellowship at University College in Cardiff, Wales. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Behavior Analysis and won the ABA Outreach Award in 1992. At Washington State University, he was honored with the Mullen Teaching Award, the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, and the Sahlin Award. He has also served the field of Behavior Analysis as President of Northwest ABA and as an Area Coordinator for the ABA convention program. |
| Abstract: Psychology 106 (Psychology applied to daily living: Dealing with friends, alcohol, and sex) and its supporting structure are the product of analyzing literature on AIDS prevention, especially the work of Kelly and his associates (e.g., Kelly, 1995a, 1995b) and the Fishers (e.g. Fisher et al., 1996), and several years of our own research (Brigham, Gilbert, Donahoe, Thomas, & Zemke, 2002; Horn & Brigham, 1996; Lindemann, Brigham, Harbke, and Alexander, 2005). The resulting program has several critical features worth noting. First, as a graded one-credit course offered as an optional component of Introductory Psychology, it has both academic and experiential content. Second, the course involves small sections of approximately 20 students with instruction based on discussion and exercises with minimal lecture. Third, students actively and systematically collect data on their own behavior and evaluate the information in relation to their own goals and values. Fourth, teams of two junior-senior-level undergraduate peer instructors trained in both the course content and instructional procedures teach the sections. Finally, information on HIV/AIDS is presented within the context of an integrated conceptual framework for personal and sexual decision-making that also covers other STIs, sexual assault, and related issues. The features of the program have evolved as a function of experimental and qualitative research and continue to be assessed each time the class is taught. The results of several experiments assessing the effectiveness of the program show it reduces student high-risk sexual behavior, reduces student alcohol consumption and increases the numbers of students practicing abstinence. The American Association of Colleges and Universities has recognized the course as a model AIDS education and prevention program. Also, the course is currently taught at several other universities across the United States and we are working to introduce it at universities in South Africa. |