A Parametric Analysis of Rehearsal Opportunities on Procedural Integrity
One rehearsal plus feedback is enough for staff to master functional analysis implementation—skip the extra drills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested how many practice runs staff really need.
Eighteen college students learned to run four types of functional analysis.
Each student got one, three, or five chances to rehearse with feedback.
Then the researchers checked how well the students ran the next FA alone.
What they found
One rehearsal with feedback was enough.
All students hit 90-a large share accuracy after just one practice round.
Adding two or four extra rehearsals did not raise scores at all.
Time was saved without hurting quality.
How this fits with other research
Yassa et al. (2024) used the same BST recipe for FCT instead of FA and still saw mastery.
Courtemanche et al. (2021) showed the trick works even when you train 36 people at once.
Conine et al. (2025) moved BST from students to parents of toddlers and the gains held.
Together, these papers say one rehearsal plus feedback works across ages, settings, and skills.
Why it matters
Stop running three or five practice loops. One solid rehearsal with clear feedback gives you full fidelity and frees up staff time for clients.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Behavioral skills training (BST) involves instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Despite its empirical support, the literature provides little to no guidance regarding the best way to implement rehearsal to ensure accurate implementation of behavioral procedures. Thus, the purpose of this study was to conduct a parametric analysis of rehearsal opportunities within a BST package. We evaluated the effects of 1, 3, and 10 rehearsals with feedback on correct implementation of functional analysis (FA). Regardless of the number of rehearsals, 18 undergraduate participants effectively learned to implement FA conditions. The most efficient training involved the use of single rehearsals with feedback until meeting mastery criterion. Participants maintained integrity during a follow-up session and rated the use of rehearsal as highly acceptable.
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 2016 · doi:10.1080/01608061.2016.1236057