Conditioning Treatment of Children's Bedwetting: A Follow-UP and Predictive Study

Abstract

50 children with a mean age of 7.8 yr. were treated using the conditioning technique originally developed by Mowrer and Mowrer in 1938. The parents were trained to handle the equipment and to keep records of progress. The treatment was administered in the respective homes by the parents under the supervision of a clinical psychologist. Analysis indicated that the treatment was successful after one treatment for 72% ( n = 36) of the children, after one relapse and two treatments for an additional 10% ( n = 5), and after two relapses and three treatments for an additional 8% ( n = 4). 10% ( n = 5) of the children experienced a third relapse after the third treatment. The observed differences in patterns of recovery during treatment, such as number of learning opportunities, significantly differentiated the successful cases from the less successful ones, but a discriminant analysis indicated difficulties in classifying individual cases. It was concluded that process variables are not sufficient to predict success of the present treatment method.