Behaviors in type II diabetes during contingency contracting

The purpose of this study was to use existing data to describe the behaviors performed by 117 subjects with Type II diabetes who wrote contingency contracts with nurses. Data were analyzed from a larger, randomized clinical trial of contingency contracting to improve clinical outcomes. Subjects had a high rate of completion of behaviors in contingency contracts (M = 90.9%). Subjects performed a median of six behaviors overall and up to a median of three behaviors of each of the diabetic regimen behaviors. The majority performed diet (n = 68, 58.1%) and exercise (n = 69, 58.9%) behaviors, with only one third performing both behaviors (n = 40, 34.2%). The most frequent behavioral strategies used were breaking the behavior into steps and self-monitoring the behavior. The contingency contracting intervention should be modified to be more comprehensive with increased recognition of the time and effort required for concurrently changing diet and exercise.