Individual, generalized, and moderated effects of the good behavior game on at-risk primary school students: A multilevel multiple baseline study using behavioral progress monitoring

Abstract

The current study examined the impact of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on the academic engagement (AE) and disruptive behavior (DB) of at-risk students’ in a German inclusive primary school sample using behavioral progress monitoring. A multiple baseline design across participants was employed to evaluate the effects of the GBG on 35 primary school students in seven classrooms from grade 1 to 3 (Mage = 8.01 years, SDage = 0.81 years). The implementation of the GBG was randomly staggered by 2 weeks across classrooms. Teacher-completed Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) was applied to measure AE and DB. We used piecewise regression and a multilevel extension to estimate the individual case-specific treatment effects as well as the generalized effects across cases. Piecewise regressions for each case showed significant immediate treatment effects for the majority of participants (82.86%) for one or both outcome measures. The multilevel approach revealed that the GBG improved at-risk students’ classroom behaviors generally with a significant immediate treatment effect across cases (for AE, B = 0.74, p < 0.001; for DB, B = –1.29, p < 0.001). The moderation between intervention effectiveness and teacher ratings of students’ risks for externalizing psychosocial problems was significant for DB (B = –0.07, p = 0.047) but not for AE. Findings are consistent with previous studies indicating that the GBG is an appropriate classroom-based intervention for at-risk students and expand the literature regarding differential effects for affected students. In addition, the study supports the relevance of behavioral progress monitoring and data-based decision-making in inclusive schools in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the GBG and, if necessary, to modify the intervention for individual students or the whole group.