ArticleThe American journal of bioethics : AJOB2023
Ethical Issues in Using Behavior Contracts to Manage the "Difficult" Patient and Family.
Article in The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Breaking the cycle: Preventing workplace violence against healthcare workers.Journal of hospital medicine · 2026Article
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Conflict Management Perspectives Among Physician and Nurse Leaders.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Ethical responses to violence toward health care workers.Journal of hospital medicine · 2024Article
- Structural Racism Operationalized via Adverse Social Events in a Single-Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.The Journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Unique Ethical and Practical Considerations in the Use of Behavior Contracts for Families of Minors and Minoritized Populations in Pediatric Settings.The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Long used as a tool for medical compliance and adhering to treatment plans, behavior contracts have made their way into the in-patient healthcare setting as a way to manage the "difficult" patient and family. The use of this tool is even being adopted by healthcare ethics consultants (HECs) in US hospitals as part of their work in navigating conflict at the bedside. Anecdotal evidence of their increasing popularity among clinical ethicists, for example, can be found at professional bioethics meetings and conversations and idea-sharing among practitioners on HEC social media. While there are a handful of papers gesturing toward a bioethical critique of behavior contracts of various types, the use of behavior contracts in the context of interpersonal conflict has not been vetted by bioethicists to determine their ethical legitimacy or efficacy. In this paper, we highlight a set of ethical concerns that we believe must be addressed before continuing or widespread implementation of behavior contracts to manage the "difficult" patient or family.
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