The PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG) is an environmental intervention used in the classroom to create a nurturing environment that is conducive to learning.
PAX game is implemented by the National Institute for Health Development in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and funded by European Social Fund.
The intervention is designed to reduce off-task behavior; increase attentiveness; decrease aggressive and disruptive behavior, as well as shy and withdrawn behavior. PAX GBG has also shown improvements with academic success, and mental health wellbeing and reduces substance abuse later in life. PAX GBG infuses a set of evidence-based strategies called “Kernels” and a classroom game which evolved from the original Good Behavior Game, developed and studied during the 1960s. The Kernels and PAX Game increase self-regulation and cooperative behaviors and decrease unwanted behaviors. The methodology emphasizes teamwork, cooperation towards a common goal, and collectively taking responsibility.
Good Behavior Game is an evidence based intervention, meaning its effect has rigorously been evaluated and tested. The short and long lasting outcomes of implementing PAX have been evaluated with several scientific research (including longitude studies about students using PAX and their later stages of life). PAX GBG is identified in the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP) to address:
- Conduct and problem behaviors
- Academic success
- Mental health service utilization
- Initiation of substance use
- Recent research has linked PAX GBG to school completion, reduction in suicidality, and reduced incidents of involvement in violent crimes as either victim or perpetrator.
- One or more years of PAX GBG has also been shown to cause positive expression of brain genes associated with mental health.
The developer of PAX Good Behavior Game is PAXIS Institute. Their publications and research papers are available here: http://paxis.org/publications
