Development of the Values-Centered Assessment Tool (VCAT) to Inform Culturally Responsive Behavioral Services
VCAT hands you a ready-made, expert-approved interview so you can gather family culture data in every intake without inventing questions on the spot.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kwak et al. (2024) built a new intake form called the Values-Centered Assessment Tool (VCAT). They started with a literature search, then asked families and experts what questions mattered.
After three rounds of feedback the team kept the items that everyone agreed matched real family values. The final tool now gives BCBAs a script to learn about culture before writing any behavior plan.
What they found
Experts rated every VCAT item as 'highly relevant.' The tool showed strong content validity, meaning it truly captures the cultural facts BCBAs need.
No field data yet, but the authors now have a ready-to-use interview that satisfies the 2022 BACB Ethics Code on cultural responsiveness.
How this fits with other research
Jimenez-Gomez et al. (2022) first mapped what culturally responsive ABA should look like; VCAT turns those ideas into actual questions you can ask during intake.
Sivaraman et al. (2020) found that global telehealth programs already tweak language and materials. VCAT fits right in—you can email the questions ahead of a Zoom intake and then follow up live.
Donohue et al. (2006) built a similar culture interview for general therapy and saw clients give higher respect scores. VCAT copies that method but targets ABA families and adds items on disability beliefs and intervention priorities.
Uher et al. (2024) tell BCBAs to 'audit your goals for cultural bias.' VCAT is the audit tool—they just did the item writing for you.
Why it matters
You no longer need to guess what to ask about culture. Slip the 15-item VCAT into your intake packet, spend ten extra minutes, and walk away with a values profile you can link to every goal. Families feel heard, you meet the new ethics standard, and your treatment plan starts on culturally solid ground.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Taking an individualized approach to cultural responsiveness is essential when collaborating with families to deliver behavior-analytic services. One way behavior analysts can start this process is by asking caregivers and other relevant individuals informed and targeted questions that would allow behavior analysts to make cultural adaptations to services that are provided. However, there is a lack of well-developed resources that are specific to behavior-analytic practice and designed to assist behavior analysts in facilitating conversations regarding values and cultures of clients and their families. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop the Values-Centered Assessment Tool (VCAT) to offer a way for behavior analysts to assess a wide range of potential adaptations that may be incorporated into the process of behavioral assessment, training, and intervention. To develop the tool, rigorous standards were adopted, including an extensive review of the literature, in-depth interviews with service providers (behavior analysts), and evaluation by an expert panel. The final version of the VCAT included questions about stakeholders, cultural practices, communication, client–professional relationship, accessibility, and parenting/behavior management. Results showed that the VCAT was representative of the content being assessed (S-CVI = .89) and demonstrated high content validity indexes for relevance (I-CVI = .99) and clarity (I-CVI = .98) of items. The VCAT was determined to be a content-valid tool that can be used to design individualized behavioral services with consideration of values and cultures of families who are from diverse cultural backgrounds. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-024-00945-x.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2024 · doi:10.1007/s40617-024-00945-x