Chapter 20

Behavioral Assessment: Initial Considerations

Behavior Modification Program Phases Screening/Intake:

Presenting concerns

Agency Policies

Crisis screening

Diagnosis (insurance)

Behavior Modification Program Phases (cont.) Baseline Phase: Assess behavior quantitatively

(frequency, duration, etiology severity, quality, environmental controls).

Treatment Phase: Design a program using the tools we’ve learned thus far. Assess success, redesign if necessary and fade stimuli/reduce consequences to bring behavior under control of natural reinforcers.

Follow-up Phase: See if behavior maintains, adjust natural reinforcers or begin treatment again.

Indirect Assessment Procedures

Interviews with the Client and Significant Others (See Table 20-1)

Rapport

Non-judgmental

Confidentiality

Set target behaviors

Indirect Assessment Procedures (cont.)

Questionnaires Life History

Survey

Rating scales and checklists (CBCL, Conners, BASC, etc.)

Indirect Assessment Procedures (cont.)

Role Playing ( to assess behavior in office).

Information from Consulting Professionals.

Client Self-Monitoring ( not as good as trained observers).

Direct Assessment Procedures

More accurate but more time consuming and thus costly.

Covert behaviors not observable.

Experimental Assessment Procedures

Experimental functional analysis See Chap 22

DATA: Why Bother? To Determine whether behavioral treatment is

appropriate.

Maybe the behavior isn’t in your area of expertise.

Maybe the behavior is not really a problem.

Data can lead to treatment by discovering controlling environmental variables.

DATA: Why Bother? (cont)

To see if Treatment is working. To prompt and/or reinforce the treatment

providers. Counting behavior may impact its frequency

apart from treatment effects. Reactivity is the effect of being watched (keeping track of weight loss/gain, exercise, etc. can be motivating).

Chapter 21

Direct Behavioral assessment: What to Record and How

Characteristics of Behavior to be Recorded Topography Amount

Rate/frequency.

Frequency graphs. Pg. 271

Cumulative Graphs pg. 273

(If comparing more than one behavior and/or rate changes are small)

Characteristics of Behavior to be Recorded (cont.) Duration Intensity (may need instrumentation such as

voice meter). Stimulus Control What in the environment

PROMPTS the behavior? Latency between stimulus and response. Quality just an arbitrary rating along one of the

previously listed quantitative dimensions.

How to Record Behavior

Continuous recording: every instance Interval recording

Partial interval recording: maximum one instance within a specified time interval.

Whole interval recording: record only if the behavior persists throughout the entire interval.

Time-Sampling Recording: intervals are separated by longer periods of time to save time in sampling.

Assessing Accuracy of Observations Response definition may be vague. Observational situation: may be difficult

to detect behavior. Observer: may be poorly trained. Data Sheets/recording procedures: may

be poorly designed.

Assessing Accuracy of Observations (cont.) Interobserver Reliability (IOR) 80-100%

acceptable

Frequency recordings: smaller number

larger number X 100%

Interval recordings:

# of intervals agreed # intervals either observer recorded a behavior X 100%

Chapter 22

Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem Behavior

What is Functional Analysis?

Examination of the relationship between behavior and its antecedents and consequences

Antecedentseliciting stimuli

ConsequencesPositive or negative reinforcement

Types of Assessment

QuestionnaireCompleted by those familiar with clientReliability issues

ObservationObserve what is going onForm hypotheses about antecedents and

consequences

Types of Assessment

Functional AnalysisSystematic manipulation of environmental

events to experimentally test their role in behavior maintenance

Limitations Infrequent behaviors Not applicable in dangerous behaviors Expensive and time consuming

Causes of Problem Behavior

Attention From Others – Social Positive ReinforcementAttention follows behavior Individual approaches attention giver prior to

behaviorSmiling prior to behaviorTreatment

Give attention at other times Reduce attention to behavior

Causes of Problem Behavior

Self Stimulation – Internal Sensory Positive ReinforcementContinues doing the behavior because it offers

a desired level of stimulationBehavior continues at steady rateTreatment:

Increase sensory stimulation Reduce stimulation level of behavior

Causes of Problem Behavior

Environmental Consequences – External Sensory Positive Reinforcement Behavior maintained by reinforcing sights and

sounds from the nonsocial external environment Behavior continues undiminished even though it

appears to have no social consequences over numerous occasions

Treatment: Sensory reinforcement of a desirable alternate behavior

Causes of Problem Behavior Escape From Demands – Social Negative

Reinforcement Escape from aversive stimuli Problem behavior as a way to escape various

undesirable demands Behavior only happens when certain types of

requests are made of the person Treatment

Persist with requests (demands) until compliance Teach other responses Program where level of difficulty of requested behavior

starts low and is gradually increased

Causes of Problem Behavior

Elicited – RespondentSome behavior is elicited rather than

controlled by consequencesBehavior consistently occurs in a certain

situation or in the presence of certain stimuliBehavior seems involuntaryTreatment

Establishing one or more responses that compete with problem behavior (counterconditioning)

Causes of Problem Behavior

Medical Problem emerges suddenly and does not seem

to be related to any changes in the individual’s environment

Behavioral diagnostics Therapist diagnoses the problem after examining

antecedents, consequences, and medical and nutritional variables as potential causes of problem behaviors

Develop treatment plan based on diagnosis Physician should be consulted prior to treatment

Guidelines for Conducting Functional Assessment

Define the problem behavior Identify antecedents Identify consequences Consider health/medical/personal variables Form hypothesis based on information collected Collect data to determine if hypothesis is correct If possible, do a functional analysis by directly testing the

hypothesis Design treatment program If treatment is successful, accept the causal analysis as

confirmed. If treatment is not successful, redo the functional analysis

Examples of FBA measures

FAST FBA Inventory ABC chart See pg. 295 of text

Chapter 23

Doing Research in Behavior Modification

Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs

Baseline (A) is followed by treatment (B), return to baseline (A) condition, and then treatment again (B)

Allows for replication of treatment effect Replication makes it clearer that treatment

caused change in behavior

Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs

Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs

Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research DesignsConsiderations

Do baseline until pattern is stable and predictable

May be undesirable to do a reversal (dangerous behaviors)

May be unable to do a reversal if natural reinforcers have already taken effect (behavioral trapping)

How many reversals and replications are necessary? Less replications if large effects are observed and a lot of previous

research exists in the area Limitations

Withdrawal of treatment may not lead to return to baseline Withdrawal may be undesirable or unethical

Multiple-Baseline Designs

Conduct more than one AB design concurrently with treatments beginning at different times

Useful when reversals cannot be introduced

Multiple-Baseline Designs

Across behaviorsBaselining several similar behaviors within an

individual Across subjects

Applying the same treatment to the same behavior problems of two or more individuals

Across situationsBaselining one type of behavior for a single

individual in more than one setting

Multiple-Baseline Designs

Changing-Criterion Designs

Change over time the criterion for success and look for relationship between criteria changes and behavior change

Can increase or decrease:Frequency requirementsRate requirementsDuration requirementsEtc.

Changing-Criterion Designs

Multiple-Baseline Designs (cont.)

Compare effects of two or more treatment conditions considerably more rapidly than in ABAB design Applied at alternating times within the same time period Also known as multielement design

Does not require reversal Several treatments can be evaluated at the same

time Disadvantage: treatment effects interaction

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Data typically analyzed without control groups and statistical techniques used in other areas of psychology

Behavior modifiers interested in understanding and improving the behavior of individuals, not groups

Data Analysis and Interpretation No control groups or statistics, just visual inspection of

data graphs to draw conclusions. Number of replications. Quantitative difference between baseline and treatment

behavior. Latency of treatment effects. Number of overlaps baseline and treatment. Precision of treatment procedures. Reliability of response measures. Consistency of findings with existing data and theory. Practical impact of results. Consumer satisfaction.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Social Validity Behavior modifiers need to socially validate their work

on at least three levels (Wolf, 1978): Must examine the extent to which target behaviors

identified for treatment programs are really the most important for client and society

Must be concerned with the acceptability to the client of the particular procedures used

Must ensure that the consumers are satisfied with the results

Advantages of Within Subjects (Single-case, N of 1) Designs

Repeated measurements vs. Data at single point in time

Small number of subjects vs. Large number of subjects

No resistance to control group participation from subjects

No need for statistical assumptions of normal distribution of DV and random selection of subjects from population