Date of Award
7-2021
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Applied Behavior Analysis: M.S.
Department
Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy
College
School of Health and Human Services
First Advisor
Ben Witts
Second Advisor
Odessa Luna
Third Advisor
Michele Traub
Fourth Advisor
Kim Schulze
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Programmed Instruction, Staff training, Brief staff training, Automated staff training, Clinic, Applied behavior analysis
Abstract
There are many different methods of training staff, but all have limitations. Programmed Instruction is one such method to train staff that can be a more convenient way to teach basic knowledge. New staff at an autism clinic were delivered three courses of programmed instruction modules for skillsets related to correctly implementing programs to identify if this method was an effective way to improve treatment integrity outcomes. A multiple baseline design across skills that was replicated across staff evaluated treatment integrity performance for behavior technicians. Out of the six behavior technicians that received the brief programmed instruction modules, no meaningful changes in performance were observed for any behavior technician. The brief programmed instruction modules did not create more stable responding in the intervention phase and most participants exhibited similar patterns of responding (e.g., highly variable) between baseline and intervention. The lack of an identifiable meaningful improvement in behavior technician performance may be due to multiple factors, including the sporadic and infrequent data collection that occurred in this applied setting. There are still many avenues of exploration for programmed instruction in the future, including the need for more current analog research on programmed instruction to support using programmed instruction in the natural environment in the age of computers.
Recommended Citation
Cosato, Zoe, "Using Programmed Instruction Modules to Improve Training Outcomes" (2021). Culminating Projects in Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy. 84.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/cpcf_etds/84
