Training Educators to Conduct Functional Behavior Assessment Via Telehealth

Training Educators to Implement Behavioral Assessment and Treatment Procedures in School Settings Via Telehealth

This study evaluates the effects of delivering training services via telehealth to educators in rural schools. The investigators hope to increase the accuracy with which educators implement functional behavior assessments in schools. During the study, participants will receive training on functional behavior assessments at different periods. When one school is receiving training, other schools will not be receiving training. The purpose will be to show increased accuracy of functional behavior assessments only occur following training.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Protocol Only; Behavioral: Behavioral skills training

Detailed Description

Training services for educators typically occurs in-vivo with experts providing immediate feedback and modeling to shape behavior. These types of training experiences may not be accessible for all educators though. The current study will evaluate delivering behavioral skills training (e.g., feedback and error correction) via telehealth for educators conducting functional behavior assessments. The components of the functional behavior assessment that will be targeted are open-ended interviews, stimulus preference assessments, direct observations of problem behavior, and a functional communication training program. With at least three different schools, the investigators will introduce training delivered via telehealth one at a time to show that increases in acquisition of the various components of the functional behavior assessment only occur following telehealth-based training.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 12
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Colorado
    • Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80045
      • University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be an educator who conducts functional behavior assessment.
• Must be training to become a registered behavior technician.

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Baseline; Participants will be given a written protocol for conducting the relevant assessment procedure (e.g., open-ended interview).	Behavioral: Protocol Only; Participants will be given a written protocol describing how to conduct the target assessment procedure.
Active Comparator: Telehealth Treatment; Participants will receive feedback and error correction on their implementation of the relevant assessment procedure to improve their performance.	Behavioral: Protocol Only; Participants will be given a written protocol describing how to conduct the target assessment procedure.; Behavioral: Behavioral skills training; Participants will receive feedback and error correction on their implementation of the assessment procedures. Feedback will take the form of the experimenter pointing out components of the assessment that are not being conducted accurately and error correction will take the form of the experimenter reviewing the correct way to implement that component of the assessment.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Increased functional behavior assessment procedural fidelity	Will measure percentage of components of each assessment correctly implemented.	1 hour

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Colorado, Denver
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Patrick Romani, Ph.D., University of Colorado, Denver

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 31, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): May 31, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 8, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 8, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): March 14, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 3, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 2, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Telehealth; Functional behavior assessment
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 16-1691

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant data will only be disseminated via professional meetings and peer-reviewed publications. Data will be de-identified to maintain confidentiality of participants. Data will not be shared with anyone else.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No