Transcript Document 7677191

How to Identify, Define, & and
Assess Behavior
Chapter 3
How to Identify, Define, & and
Assess Behavior
• Identifying the goal of the program
• Defining the target behavior
• Conducting observations
Identifying the Goal of the Program
• Behavior analysis unique among
psychological approaches
– emphasis and development of assessment
methods
– used as part of treatment
Identifying the Goal of a Program
• Guidelines
– Determined by societal standards
– Regardless of source of intervention
(behavioral or other)
What makes a behavior worthy of
intervention?
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Impairment
Illegal behaviors
Concern to individual or significant others
Preventive
What makes a behavior worthy of
intervention?
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Impairment
– Extent to which everyday functioning is
impeded by a particular problem or set of
behaviors
– Meet role demands?
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Home, school, work, socially
No restrictions
Impairment
• Is a criterion for psychiatric disorders
– Depression
– Schizophrenia
– AD/HD
• Impairment does not necessarily mean a
person will meet criteria for psychiatric dx
Illegal
• DUI
• Skipping school
• May not cause impairment
Concern to themselves or others
• Social skills
• Toilet training
• Relevance to future functioning?
Prevention
• Early intervention
– Pre-academic behavior
• Behaviors that promote safety or health
– Breast self-exam
– Proper handling of chemicals
Some Criteria for Identifying Goals
of Intervention Programs
• Behaviors that bring
Interaction with peers;
clients to normative
exercise and activity
levels of functioning in
of elderly persons
relation to their peers
• Behaviors that are
SIB; fighting at school,
dangerous to self or
spouse abuse
others
• Behaviors that
Safe sex, not smoking,
decrease risk
wearing seat belts
Criteria, cont.
• Behaviors that affect
adaptive functioning
• Behaviors that can
lead to other positive
changes
• Behaviors that reduce
felt problems of
people with whom
client is in contact
• Social skills; not attending
school or work
• Increasing pro-social
speech; taking
medication as prescribed
• Tantrums; poor marital
communication
Goals
• Increase desirable behavior
• Decrease undesirable behavior
• Even if goal is to reduce undesirable
behavior, focus of program can be on
training adaptive alternatives or positive
behaviors
Goals
• Important to state goals in positive terms
even if the goals is to reduce a behavior
problem
• Positive opposites
Positive opposites are those
adaptive behaviors that denote
how the individual is to behave
instead of engaging in the
maladaptive behavior.
Positive Opposite
• Always helpful to add a second goal
identifying the positive opposite
• Be concrete
Example: Reduce tantrums
• Positive opposites:
– Walk away from provoking situation
– Asking for help from an adult
– Suggesting compromises
Considerations: Contexts
• Context in which the behavior occurs
• Stimulus control
• Antecedent events and situational cues
Considerations: Consequence
• Develop conditioned reinforcers
• Pair neutral stimuli (praise) with primary
reinforcers (food)
Considerations
• What goal should take priority?
• Address contextual issues (environment)
Class Activity
• With a partner, develop a one to two
sentence scenario that identifies person
and a problem behavior
• Based on your scenario
– Identify a goal for a target behavior (problem)
and
– Identify a positive opposite for this problem
and identify a goal for that behavior
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Self Control Project
TASK ANALYSIS
Select a problem area. This can be related to a behavioral excess or deficit.
Complete a narrative (ABC) recording in a situation where the behavior occurs or
could occur.
From the narrative recording and other observations, develop a functional analysis
of contingencies maintaining the problem behavior. Also, develop a functional
analysis for the positive opposite behavior. I WILL PROVIDE COACHING ON
THIS. Complete a written summary of the functional analyses, including
contingency diagrams.
Turn in narrative recording and functional analysis on October 8.
Develop goals for the project
Write operational definitions for the behavior problem and the positive opposite and
design a data sheet to record these behaviors.
Turn in target behavior and data sheet on October 15.
Collect at least 1 week of baseline data before beginning intervention.
Design intervention that addresses problem behavior and the positive opposite
behavior. Identify the type of intervention design you will use (AB, ABAB, Multiple
Baseline across Settings or Behaviors). I would prefer you use something more
than a simple AB design.
Implement intervention. Continue to collect data.
Prepare poster for in class poster session. (see task analysis for poster preparation)
Defining behavior
• Begin with general domain: TANTRUMS
• Then identify a specific definition that
permits assessment
Defining the target behavior
• What are the criteria?
– Objectivity
– Clarity
– Completeness
Objectivity
• The measure refers to observable
characteristics of the behavior or to events
in the environment that can be observed
• EXAMPLES
– The number of times a child hits, kicks, talks
out of turn, asks a question,
– Number of dishes in the dishwasher, number
of dirty dishes in the sink, number of
cigarettes in the ashtray, number of questions
answered
Clarity
• A definition is so unambiguous that it could
be read, repeated, and paraphrased by an
observer or someone initially unfamiliar
with measure. Little explanation is needed
to begin actual observation.
• EXAMPLE: Hitting includes anytime the
child’s elbow, forearm, or hand strikes
another person or object
Completeness
• Delineation of the boundary conditions so
that the responses to be included and
excluded are enumerated.
– Example: Not included in hitting is incidental
contact with others when walking in the hall or
giving high fives when greeting or
congratulating self or others
Operational Definitions
• Defining a concept on the basis of the
specific operations used for assessment
• In behavior analysis, typically use direct
observation of overt behavior
• Ex. = concept of tantrums
– Parents can tell about them – too far removed
– Rather: observe them, see where they occur,
under what circumstances, and whether there
is change in response to intervention
Measures
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Paper-pencil measures
Interviews
Reports from others
Physiological measures
DIRECT OBSERVATION
Operational Definition of Concept
of Depression?
• Use multiple sources
– Beck Depression Inventory score
– Physiological measures of arousal
– Self report of depression
– Nonverbal facial expression that suggests
depressed mood
– Direct signs of depression – crying, spending
time in bed, avoiding work and social
situations
Other Examples of Concepts
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Hyper
Destructive
Aggressive
Self-injurious
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Class Activity
• Select a behavior and write an operational
definition that could be used to do
observational assessment
Check
• Does your definition meet these criteria?
• Clarity
• Objectivity
• Completeness
• Explain
Task Analysis
• Goal of program to develop a complete set
or sequence of behaviors?
– Concretely describe (analyze) the sequence
Task Analysis
• Definition:
• A way of proceeding from the general goal
of the program to a number of small,
trainable, and highly concrete tasks
• Each component behavior of a task
analysis is called a step
How to write a task analysis
• Identify the desired behaviors
– By observing those who can perform the task
well
– Solicit input of experts
When writing a task analysis
• Specify the behaviors in small, trainable
units
• No firm rules about the size of the unit
• Individualize!
Changing oil in a car
• Steps?
Remediating kitchen hazards
• Grease on stove
• Etc.
Tying a bow
• Steps?
Ordering a pizza
• Steps
Washing clothes in a washing machine
• Steps?
Class Activity
• Write an 8-10 step task analysis for a
behavioral sequence
– Purchasing 1 item in a store
– Writing a check
– Balancing a checkbook
– Making scrambled eggs
– Packing a gym bag
– Hand washing
– Putting on a band aid
Task Complexity
• Many small units grouped into one step of
a task analysis
• Vs.
• Many delineated steps
How many steps?
• Decision based upon:
– Complexity of the goal
– Baseline level of behavior
– Speed with which new behavior is acquired
Assessment
• Next step after precise definition of
behavior
Assessment
• Essential (2 REASONS)
– Identifies the extent to which the target
behavior is performed before beginning the
program (BASELINE or OPERANT RATE)
– Does behavior change after program is
implemented?
• Compare baseline rates to rates following program
implementation
Rely on judgment?
• Distortion of what has actually happened
Judgment
• Slippery slope
• Influences (such as psychological state of
person doing the judging) bias reports
over and above what has actually taken
place
Solution
• Direct observation
Advantages of direct observation
• More direct measure of the level or
amount of the target behavior
• Judgment may still play a role
Direct observation
• Strive to minimize judgment
• Developing the measure of the behavior
helps to minimize judgment
– Task analysis
– Objective, clear, complete definitions
• Focus on OVERT behavior
Direct observation
• Provides information about whether a
program is working
• Used as a basis for making decisions
about whether or not to change the
program procedures
Question?
• Is all judgment or inference removed if we
use direct observation?
Strategies of Assessment
• Assessment of the target behavior
• Determine effect of intervention strategy
Different Types of Measures
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Frequency
Discrete categorization
Interval recording
Amount of time (duration & latency)
Intensity
Number of persons
Frequency
• Useful when the target response is
discrete and when it takes a relatively
constant amount of time each time it is
performed
• Observe for constant amount of time or
use rate measure
• # of responses / # of minutes
Discrete Categorization
• Classify responses
• Correct/incorrect; performed/not
performed; appropriate/inappropriate
• Especially useful in measuring whether
several different behaviors have occurred
• EXAMPLE: checklists
Interval Recording
• Behavior is observed for a single block of time
• The time block is subdivided into shorter
intervals
• Record whether behavior occurred or not during
the interval, but do not count all occurrence in
the interval
• Whole interval vs. partial interval
• Variation: time sampling – record at different
times rather than in a single block of time
Amount of Time
• Duration – amount of time the response is
performed
• Latency – how long it takes the person to
begin the response from the time that a
cue is provided
Intensity
• Magnitude, strength, amplitude, force, or
effort of the response
• Can use discrete categorization
• EXAMPLE: tantrum – identify several
behaviors and record yes/no whether each
of the behaviors occurred or not
Number of Persons
• Number of individuals are counted
• Prevalence
– How many people at a particular point in time
show a particular problem
Other Strategies
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Weight in pounds
Number of cigarettes smoked
Number of ounces of alcohol consumed
Blood pressure
Records of teenage crime
Self reports
Selection of Assessment Strategy
• I will coach you on your selection of a
recording method
• You will begin by selecting the method that
best matches your problem
• I will provide feedback about your choice
and make suggestions as needed
Conditions of Observation
• Obtrusive – people being observed may
react to observer’s presence
– Minimize by avoiding interaction, letting
people adapt
• Observer drift
– Periodic retraining, feedback
• Observer expectations may influence their
recordings
Reliability of Assessment
• Interobserver agreement
– Consistency of assessment – lack of
consistency may mask differences
– Minimizes observer bias
– Agreement reflects whether the target
behavior is well-defined
Conducting Checks of Agreement
• Ensure observers work independently without
access to one another’s recording sheets
• Supervise observers carefully during a reliability
check
• Avoid conveying expectation to observers
• Consider conducting periodic retraining sessions
• Have people other than observers calculate
reliability
Estimating Agreement
• Frequency measures
• Form a fraction – smaller frequency
divided by larger
Interobserver Agreement
• Interval recording
• Divide the number of intervals in which
both observers mark the behavior as
occurring (agreements) by the number of
agreements plus the number of intervals in
which one observer scored the behavior
and the other did not (disagreements) and
multiplying by 100
Interobserver Agreement =
# of Agreements
# of Agreements + # of
Disagreements
X
100
Data analysis?
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IIIIII I
IIII
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IIIIII II
IIIIII
IIIIII
IIIIII
IIIII
Discrete occurrences…
# of occurrences
% of intervals
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IIIIII I
IIIIII
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I
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I
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I
Data analysis?
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Duration
# of occurrences
% of intervals –
whole interval vs. partial interval vs. time sampling
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Conclusion
• Target behavior assessment
– Rudimentary
– Precondition for effective intervention and
evaluation of behavior-change programs
• This chapter – how to ID, define, and
assess… much more to come!!!!