Efficiency, Safety, and Dissemination: Considerations for Research and Practice Related to the Practical Functional Assessment

Abstract

Researchers have developed and evaluated procedural modifications to the functional analysis (FA) to improve its efficiency and safety while maintaining its precision. A contemporary FA modification is the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) or practical functional assessment (PFA). Nearly all of the extant dissemination efforts related to the IISCA/PFA support this approach, with little attention to its drawbacks and limitations. Further, the IISCA/PFA has been widely disseminated and seems to have been readily adopted by many clinicians as the nonpareil FA. However, researchers and clinicians should be aware of several lingering issues and considerations to have a more balanced understanding of the IISCA/PFA (e.g., the conditions under which this approach should be considered). Accordingly, we outline the strengths of the IISCA/PFA, considerations surrounding various factors (e.g., the dissemination tactics), ideas for future research, and how the discussion on this topic should move forward.