Transcript Chapter 19
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
Antecedents
eliciting
stimuli
Consequences
Positive
or negative reinforcement
Types of Assessment
Questionnaire
Completed
by those familiar with client
Reliability issues
Observation
Observe
what is going on
Form hypotheses about antecedents and
consequences
Types of Assessment
Functional Analysis
Systematic
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
Reinforcement
Attention
follows behavior
Individual approaches attention giver prior to
behavior
Smiling prior to behavior
Treatment
Give attention at other times
Reduce attention to behavior
Causes of Problem Behavior
Self Stimulation – Internal Sensory
Positive Reinforcement
Continues
doing the behavior because it offers
a desired level of stimulation
Behavior continues at steady rate
Treatment:
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 – Respondent
Some
behavior is elicited rather than
controlled by consequences
Behavior consistently occurs in a certain
situation or in the presence of certain stimuli
Behavior seems involuntary
Treatment
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 Designs
Considerations
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 behaviors
Baselining
several similar behaviors within an
individual
Across subjects
Applying
the same treatment to the same
behavior problems of two or more individuals
Across situations
Baselining
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
requirements
Rate requirements
Duration requirements
Etc.
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