The development and factor structure of the Functional Assessment for multiple causaliTy (FACT).
The FACT is a quick caregiver ranking tool for multi-cause behavior, but current best practice says always test, not just ask.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a new checklist called the Functional Assessment for multiple causaliTy (FACT).
Caregivers rate 25 problem behaviors on how often each happens and what seems to feed it.
Factor analysis trimmed the list to six clear functions you see every day: attention, escape, sensory, pain, tangibles, and demands.
What they found
The FACT gives you a fast way to rank which function to tackle first when a behavior is fed by many things.
No treatment data are shown; the paper only shows the tool is short, reliable, and easy to score.
How this fits with other research
Brown et al. (2025) now offers a full decision tree that picks FA conditions and adds safety steps.
That 2025 guide quietly replaces the FACT checklist with a broader, safer protocol.
Hoffmann et al. (2025) asked 15 FA experts and they say always weigh several FA formats instead of trusting one informant scale.
So the FACT is still handy as a quick screen, but newer papers tell you to test, not just ask.
Why it matters
Use the FACT when you need a five-minute caregiver snapshot to decide where to start testing.
Then follow Brown et al. (2025) and run a brief, safe FA to confirm the top function before you write the behavior plan.
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Join Free →Hand the FACT to the teacher, score it in two minutes, then run one brief FA on the highest-ranked function.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Since behavioral intervention is linked to the findings of a functional assessment, the reality of behaviors maintained by multiple functions is a frequent and troublesome issue for clinicians and researchers. Current methods of functional assessment provide little help in the way of providing information useful for prioritizing intervention strategies for problematic behaviors maintained by multiple functions. In an effort to account for this deficiency, we developed the Functional Assessment for multiple CausaliTy (FACT). The FACT is an informant-based, forced-choice measure designed to identify the most prominent function associated with the occurrence of problem behaviors. In the present study, we describe the factor structure and internal consistency of the FACT. Suggestions are provided for future validation strategies.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2003 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2003.07.001