Why might a task analysis be needed?
Although proper toothbrushing technique is obvious to dental professionals, caregivers need to be taught. An effective behavioral technique that dovetails with the task analysis is backward chaining. With backward chaining, a caregiver uses gentle hand over hand assistance to guide the patient through each of the task analysis steps, stopping just before the last step that the patient can do independently (without caregiver guidance). The patient then finishes the task analysis step(s) on her own and receives immediate praise and other positive reinforcement. Each time toothbrushing is taught thereafter, the caregiver works to gradually remove physical guidance from the next step back from the independent step. The idea is to remove guidance and add one more step that the patient can do independently. Reinforcement is used to encourage progress. Brush in an alternate setting. Oral hygiene can be improved in some cases by simply brushing in an alternate setting. Although the bathroom ha
