A child or adult with weigh control issues might use a diary for food intake, weight, water intake too. This can be useful to review with them to assure they are eating the right things, drinking enough water and reducing their weight. The feedback provides useful information to the person and changes in habits can be made with the therapist based on the information recorded. A journal or calendar is useful for this.
Recording sleep times each night can provide useful information for treating sleep problems. The therapist can provide a data sheet, diary or calendar to record the sleep patterns. The information gathered in written form can be discussed and changes can be made based on this important feedback regarding sleep patterns. For example, if week-ends are particularly low in number of hours slept then the therapist might suggest going to sleep earlier, listening to a sound machine or music to relax before bedtime.
Recording general mood with a happiness scale or in a journal can provide useful information for behavior change. For example, if the person is upset frequently then adding some more reinforcing activities may change the behavior.
Generally, any data collection can be used as feedback to the individual or parent in designing and changing procedures in the program and informal procedures.