Behavior Analysis in Practice最新文献

The recent changes to the Behavior Analysis Certification Board Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts along with the calls to action for compassionate care have highlighted the need for a reevaluation of behavior research and clinical programs. We propose a behavior analytic definition of compassion where the relieving or prevention of distress is the reinforcer for the professional. One way of minimizing distress may be to require that assent be provided by a participant in an intervention. The definition of assent typically includes reference to willingness to participate in an intervention or activity. We provide a framework that goes beyond simple willingness to participate and distinguishes between apparent/implicit coercion and genuine assent by considering the alternatives described as degrees of freedom available to the participant. We distinguish between compulsion/explicit coercion, consent, and assent. Additionally, we will differentiate genuine consent and assent from apparent consent and assent in the design of compassionate behavioral programs.

Behavior analysts can be found in a variety of settings including homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, residential group homes, nursing homes, and universities (Association for Professional Behavior Analysts [APBA], 2019). As the field expands, behavior analysts find themselves performing a variety of tasks outside of traditional service delivery. A role of significant importance is that of the consultant. This article examines the status of training for behavior analysts. Our work finds that relatively few (11% of board certified behavior analyst programs and 3% of board certified associate behavior analyst programs) verified course sequences (VCSs) in behavior analysis include courses devoted specifically to consultation. Compared to other allied professions, there appears to be a disconnect between training and practice, especially when considering that behavior analysts are increasingly engaged in indirect service delivery through consultees. Finally, we discuss the benefits of consultation and why further devotion to and consistent requirements for training in consultation are needed. Several models of consultation appropriate for training behavior analysts are suggested, as well as information regarding how we might examine the effectiveness of consultation training.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is rooted in the conviction that behavior change can lead to improved quality of life. The goal of ABA has always been to help our consumers achieve outcomes and milestones that are important to them and improve their lives in ways that they choose. For more than half a century, this approach has proven successful. But we are now hearing increasing concerns about problematic application of behavioral principles, suggesting that as our field has grown, we may have lost sight of client-centered interventions and outcomes. In this article, we propose a reconceptualization of the practice of ABA, adding compassion to the current dimensions that have represented our field since 1968. Adding compassion as a definitional dimension of ABA will help behavior analysts find their way back to implementing interventions in a responsive, collaborative, and humble manner that includes working with our consumers and our critics, and listening to perspectives that can help us improve our practice.

Professional organizations that oversee the accreditation of graduate training programs in behavior analysis have increased didactic training requirements for programs in various domains across the years. One of the areas in which this has occurred concerns training in philosophy within behavior science. Although content-hour requirements for didactic philosophical training have increased, the contents of this training are not prescribed and are left to the discretion of individual programs. We conducted a survey of verified course sequence programs to assess the current state of training in philosophy in behavior analysis graduate training programs. The results provided a list of common topics and readings in philosophy courses, and indicated an emphasis on radical behaviorism and the works of B. F. Skinner. The list of topics and readings obtained provides a resource for course design, and we suggest that exposing students to a broader range of behavioristic and nonbehavioristic topics and readings may enhance students’ orientation to philosophical issues in behavior analysis.

Incorporating literature into practice can help behavior analysts provide better services and achieve better outcomes. In addition, behavior analysts have an ethical obligation to remain current with the scholarly literature and to use it to inform services. Despite the merits of maintaining regular contact with the published literature, barriers exist to doing so. In this tutorial, we present a system that was created for a human service agency to increase practitioner access to the scholarly literature. The system consisted of an electronic search request form, a literature team, and a liaison. We present 7 years of data including the frequency of use, topics of interest, and other noteworthy patterns of submitter responding. We discuss the value of this type of system, limitations of its design, and considerations for practitioners who may wish to implement a similar system in their agency. We discuss modifications that could be made to fit organizations of diverse sizes and with different resources, while presenting ideas for improvement and expansion of the system.

Based on the most recent Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts Behavior Analyst Certification Board, (2020), board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) are required to engage in collaborative practices with other related service professionals. However, the extent to which BCBAs are trained in collaborative practices and have opportunities to implement such practices is unknown. We examined training experiences in collaborative practice, and the frequency of collaborative practices for behavior analysts who have been associated with school environments. Using latent class analysis (LCA), three profile models emerged within our results that describe the frequency of collaborative practices. Participating BCBAs reported little to no training in collaborative practices. It should be noted that BCBAs employed by public school districts report engaging in high-level collaborative practices. Future research is needed to determine the quality of training in collaborative practices for behavior analysts and ways to support implementation efforts in accordance with the Ethics Code.

We conducted a scoping review of the behavior analytic self-control training (SCT) literature. To identify included articles, we searched key terms in six databases for articles published between 1988 and 2021. We included empirical articles that used a behavioral approach to self-control training with human participants for whom increasing self-control choice was a clinically significant goal and measured self-control and impulsive choice as dependent variables. Twenty-five experiments from 24 articles with a total of 79 participants were included in the review. This review aims to summarize the characteristics of SCT procedures and outcomes, provide recommendations for future research directions, and offer practical suggestions to clinicians incorporating SCT into practice. We examined similarities across studies regarding the independent variables manipulated in SCT, dependent variables measured, metrics of successful interventions, and assessment of generalization and maintenance of self-control choice. Twenty-one experiments arranged concurrent self-control- and impulsive-choice options with positive reinforcement, and four experiments arranged self-control training with negative-reinforcement contingencies. Variations of SCT included progressively increasing delays, intervening activities, signaled delays, antecedent rules, and commitment responses. Providing an intervening activity during the delay was largely successful at increasing self-control choice. Maintenance and generalization of increased self-control choice were assessed in two and three experiments, respectively. Future research should focus on improving the generality of SCT procedures in clinical settings by increasing terminal delays, fading out intervening activities, including probabilistic outcomes, and combining appetitive and aversive outcomes.

This study applied behavioral economic methods to assess the effects of regulatory cost on demand for the opportunity to practice behavior analysis in Ontario using a hypothetical purchase task. The provincial government of Ontario recently passed legislation to expand the psychology regulatory body to include behavior analysts. Professional regulation has been a key longstanding priority for many professionals in the province and the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA, 2021) alike. This is an important step in public protection policy, the professionalization of the practice of applied behavior analysis (ABA), and standards of practice in the province. This study aimed to inform part of the process using an operant demand framework because fees are required to operate regulatory bodies, which implies that professionals interested in becoming regulated health professionals must pay initial and ongoing fees. Demand was analyzed using the exponentiated model of demand. Participants included 60 practitioners, who indicated they were board certified behavior analysts and Ontario residents. The findings indicated that participants’ mean Pmax value (the price at which consumption becomes elastic) was $624.65 at the aggregate level. These results may indicate Ontario behavior analysts’ perceptions of the acceptability of varying costs associated with regulation. Further, the study demonstrates the applied utility of behavioral economic methods to assess demand for commodities within behavior analysis.

In recent decades, behavior analysts have become involved in public policy and legislative efforts to protect the practice of the profession at state and national levels, as well as to support and protect the consumers of behavior analytic services. In the state of Nevada, these efforts have been ongoing since the introduction and passage of Nevada Assembly Bill (NAB) 162, establishing insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder, in 2009. As a result, legislation establishing the regulation of the profession of behavior analysis was passed and subsequently amended over multiple legislative sessions. This article discusses various lessons learned throughout the ongoing licensing and regulatory process in Nevada, with hope of providing a resource for behavior analysts that are involved in public policy.