Examining changes in appropriate social behaviors during school lunch using the lunchtime behavior game

While school lunch has the potential to be a time for students to develop appropriate social skills, most cafeterias are rife with disruptive and aggressive behavior. Lunch monitors struggle to effectively manage the many students eating lunch and yet few evidence–based cafeteria interventions exist. The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate the effects of a modified version of the evidence–based Good Behavior Game (GBG) on elementary students' appropriate social and disruptive behaviors in the cafeteria. Based in social learning theory and influenced by the principles of School Wide Positive Behavior Support (SW–PBS), the modified Lunchroom Behavior Game (LBG) focused on rewarding students for rule–following behaviors rather than focusing on negative behaviors. The study utilized a multiple baseline across lunch periods design and was conducted with elementary students in grades one to five in a suburban elementary school. This investigation found that across all grades, the intervention was effective in reducing the percent of intervals where student disruptive behavior was observed in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the intervention had no effect on students' appropriate social behavior in the cafeteria. Treatment integrity for the intervention was good. This study was only the second replication of the GBG in the cafeteria and the first to modify the intervention to follow the SW–PBS framework. These findings demonstrate that reinforcing appropriate social behavior in the cafeteria had a similar effect on students' disruptive behavior compared to focusing on negative student behavior, which has the potential for iatrogenic effects.