Positive Behaviour Support is an applied behaviour analytic system of support that is utilised in schools and in residential care settings for children and adults with disabilities who engage in challenging behaviour. Implementation fidelity depends on appropriate staff training and organisational behaviour management. A systematic literature…

Functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) provides a behavioral analysis of the psychotherapy relationship that directly applies basic research findings to outpatient psychotherapy settings. Specifically, FAP suggests that a therapist's in vivo (i.e., in-session) contingent responding to targeted client behaviors, particularly positive reinforcement…

Positive behavior support (PBS) is an empirically driven approach to improve quality of life influenced by the science of behavior analysis. Recent discussions have evolved around PBS, behavior analysis, and their relationship within education and human services fields. To date, few data have been offered to guide behaviorally oriented…

Students in research methods courses, especially those taught in an intense format, might be hard pressed to actually conduct research studies due to logistics and time constraints. I describe the use of single-case research design and a personalized behavior project as an alternative research project for students in an undergraduate psychology…

This article is a guide for researchers interested in assessing the effectiveness of serious computer-based games (or video games, digital games, or electronic games) intended to improve health and health care. It presents a definition of health games, a rationale for their use, an overview of the current state of research, and recommendations for…

Social Stories are an extensively used intervention to address behaviour difficulties of children on the autistic spectrum. This article summarizes what Social Stories are and sets out to determine whether there is any relevant literature demonstrating the effectiveness of this intervention. Whilst the existing literature suggests positive…

About 40 years since the first controlled study, screening and brief intervention (SBI) are being disseminated into practice. But many unanswered questions remain. Studies in this special issue address what we know and don't know about alcohol and drug SBI, cost-effectiveness, patient preferences, education for clinicians, quality performance…

The paper reviews research on behavioral staff management strategies in institutions for developmentally disabled persons, considering procedural effectiveness of four approaches: antecedent, contingency management, self-control, and multifaceted interventions. Methodological problems in the research are noted, along with needs for research on…

The concept of treatment integrity cuts across a diversity of fields involved with providing treatments or interventions to individuals. In medical treatments, the concept of "treatment compliance" or "treatment adherence" is an important and problematic issue. In the field of nutrition, the concept of "dietary adherence" is important for…

Historically, cognitive-developmental and behavior-analytic approaches to the study of human behavior change and development have been presented as incompatible alternative theoretical and methodological perspectives. This presumed incompatibility has been understood as arising from divergent sets of metatheoretical assumptions that take the form…

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a brief intervention that has been shown to reduce heavy drinking among college students. Because all college studies of MI to date have included a personalized feedback report, it remains unclear which of the components is necessary to produce behavior change. This study evaluated the separate and collective…

This commentary affirms that the methodology proposed in a paper by Richard A. Winett and others (EC 601 539) may be useful in conducting social validity assessments and applying these assessment data to improve behavioral interventions. The study of accurate and valid assessment of consumer satisfaction is encouraged. (JDD)

The combined tools of psycholinguistics and systems analysis have produced advances in motivational profiling resulting in numerous applications to behavioral engineering. Knowing the way people frame their motive offers leverage in causing behavior change ranging from persuasive marketing campaigns, forensic profiling, individual psychotherapy,…

The Evaluations of Classroom Observations Project had three major purposes, all related to direct observation of classroom behavior. First, the project was meant to assess the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment program in furthering the acquisition of appropriate classroom participation skills by disruptive students. Second, the project was…

This paper outlines challenges for community research endeavors such as avoiding exploitative relationships with research participants. It then outlines 10 values for community research and action, involving establishing collaborative relationships with research participants, determining research goals and methods, designing and disseminating…