Leveraging applied behavior analysis research and practice in the service of public health

A peek into the room where it happens: Quantifying ABA's influence on public policy discussions

To maximize its influence, applied behavior analysis must both create solutions and shape public policy to implement those solutions at scale. From the perspective of data-driven decision making, it is illogical to talk about seeking public policy influence without consulting evidence showing when influence has been achieved. One relevant form of evidence is the attention that behavioral solutions receive in published discussions about policy issues, and here I show how much of this attention has been earned by articles published in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. I also propose using the same kind of data to support finer grained analyses focusing on specific behavior problems, specific types of interventions, and the research programs of individual investigators. Although this is far from a complete account of the influence of applied behavior analysis on policy, it is better to have data than none if the goal is to transform the quest for influence on policy from a matter of speculation and casual discussion into an evidence-based practice.

Clinical Psychologists as T-Shaped Professionals

The modern world is becoming increasingly integrated, and disciplines are frequently collaborating with each other. Following this trend, clinical psychologists are also often working within multidisciplinary teams and in settings outside of traditional mental health. To be competent and effective in these contexts, clinical psychologists could benefit from skills outside of psychology. The current psychology training model provides depth of training in psychology but could be improved by providing the breadth of training required of modern clinical psychologists working in these contexts. Other disciplines, such as engineering, business, and social work, have improved their breadth of training through the adoption of the T-shaped model. This model of training allows individuals to simultaneously acquire the depth of knowledge required for their discipline and the breadth required to work effectively in multidisciplinary contexts. This article discusses areas in which clinical psychologists could benefit from broad training and recommendations to implement the T-shaped model.

Tobacco-free policy reduces combustible tobacco byproduct on a large university campus

Policy drives community-level behavior change, so behavior analysts should aid empirical policy development. University campus regulation is a useful proxy for broader policy initiatives and thus is a convenient inroad for behavior analyst involvement. This paper examines behavior analytic contributions to the planning and evaluation of a university tobacco-free initiative. We provided resources and guidance throughout early planning, and we then evaluated faculty and student compliance via byproduct (e.g., cigarette butts) counts taken at four high-traffic sites (as flagged by preliminary surveying of campus faculty, staff, and students). Visual analysis and supplementary statistical testing support notions of (a) a meaningful and sustained reduction of combustible tobacco byproducts in all locations, and (b) a demonstrative example of behavior analytic involvement with university policy planning and evaluation.

Evaluating Sources of Continuing Education and Professional Development Used by Behavior Analysts

Board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) are required to accrue continuing education units (CEUs) every 2 years, and to regularly engage in professional development. Identifying sources of CEUs and professional development activities, what factors BCBAs consider when choosing them, and their preferences and opinions could help inform the provision of CEU and professional development activities. However, little is known about those collective sources nor the preferences of behavior analysts in obtaining them. We surveyed individuals certified as BCBAs or board certified assistant behavior analysts through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board mass e-mail service to identify trends in CEU accruement and professional development and factors driving individuals to certain sources over others. Respondents indicated they value and believe peer-reviewed articles, in-person conferences, and well-known speakers over less verifiable sources such as social media platforms (e.g., Facebook groups or podcasts). Implications for improving the accessibility of high-quality sources of CEUs and professional development are discussed.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Applied Behavior Analysis: Addressing Educational Disparities in PK-12 Schools

The purpose of this article is to describe the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and its application to PK-12 education for behavior analysts working in schools. CRP is an educational framework that asserts that successful teachers of African American students help their students gain three repertoires: (1) sociopolitical awareness, (2) cultural competence, and (3) academic excellence. The CRP framework was designed to counter the effects that racial bias has on the academic and disciplinary experiences of some students of color. This article suggests that applied behavior analysis and CRP, when used together, may strengthen educators' efforts to reduce the effects of racism that some students of color experience. The authors first explain the tenets of CRP based on the work of Ladson-Billings (1995a, 1995b). Next, points of convergence between ABA and CRP are described. Finally, the authors offer recommendations for behavior analysts to consider when applying CRP in schools through the provision of examples of strategies and tactics derived from the behavioral literature that align with the CRP framework. The framework presented in this article has implications for behavior analysts interested in applying culturally relevant practices to their work as educators.

Probability Discounting in College Students' Willingness to Isolate During COVID-19: Implications for Behavior Analysis and Public Health

The present study was a preliminary analysis of college students' willingness to self-isolate and socially isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic analyzed through a probability discounting framework. Researchers developed a pandemic likelihood discounting task where willingness to isolate from others was measured in days as a function of the perceived probability of the escalation of a virus to pandemic levels. Experiment 1 was conducted immediately prior to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic and results showed that participants were more willing to self-isolate when the perceived probability of reaching pandemic levels was high and when there was a guarantee that others in the community would do the same. Experiment 2 was conducted with a subset of participants from Experiment 1 with the same discounting task, and results showed that participants were more willing to self-isolate 2 months following the onset of the pandemic, supporting the view that willingness to isolate from others is a dynamic process. Finally, Experiment 3 evaluated willingness to socially distance and introduced a hypothetical timescale to evaluate common trends with the real-world temporal dynamics observed in Experiments 1 and 2. Results showed similar trends in the data, supporting the use of hypothetical scenarios within probability discounting tasks in future behavior analytic research related to public health.

Humble Behaviorism Redux

The need to bring behavior analysis to scale is no more obvious or urgent than now. Collaboration between behavior analysts and healthcare workers, educators, policymakers, mental health clinicians, social workers, and so many other professionals is critical to reaching under-resourced and traditionally marginalized populations. First, however, interprofessional collaboration must be adopted widely and reinforced within the behavior analytic community. Disciplinary centrism and hubris pose barriers to effective interprofessional collaboration, leading one to assume the position that practitioners of the same discipline are better trained and smarter than those of a different field. However, cultural humility (Wright, Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(4), 805-809, 2019) is an alternative to disciplinary centrism that allows professionals to retain identities born of cultural histories and training (Pecukonis, Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 40(3), 211-220, 2020). Furthermore, cultural reciprocity is a process of self-observation and collaborative inquiry that involves questioning one's own assumptions and forces individuals (and professions) to confront the contradictions between their values and their practices (Kalyanpur & Harry, 1999). In this paper, we revisit the call for Humble Behaviorism first made by Alan Neuringer in 1991 and the recommendations of fellow behavior analysts since. Specifically, we introduce a framework of cultural reciprocity to guide humble behaviorists as they acquire behaviors necessary to establish and maintain productive interprofessional relationships. We encourage them to act on their ethical and moral duties to address social problems of global concern and bring behavior analysis to scale.