AVALIAÇÃO FUNCIONAL DA INABILIDADE DE FALAR EM PÚBLICO EM FÓBICOS SOCIAIS

Abstract

inability to speak in public who were diagnosed with social phobia: a 23- year-old Civil Engineering student, and a 53-year-old Physics graduate student. It was also considered the possibility of extinguishing certain inappropriate behaviors and installing socially relevant new ones. (1) Informant-based strategies: (1.1) functional assessment interview with parents and spouse; (1.2) a social phobia inventory and (2) direct observations

demonstrate the control of the procedures, (3) the multiple baseline experimental design was applied. Classes of behavior problems of each participant were selected for intervention, i.e., behavioral excesses and deficits. Interventions were made through individual sessions, between the researcher and each participant. The shaping techniques, shaping with verbal instruction and modeling with verbal instruction were used in order to install new behavioral classes. At the end of the intervention process, (3.1) a programming for generalization with gradual approximation and with public speaking situation reinforcement was conducted. Finally, (3.2) the generalization test itself was used to evaluate the intervention effects, which was an oral report made in front of 32 people in a private university graduate course. One month after the end of the research, the (4) Followup was performed. The data showed that all behaviors were significantly changed after the intervention started and remained during the Follow-up process. It is evident the need of such studies in an attempt to contribute with the quality of life of people with social phobia.