Evaluation of a Performance Management Intervention to Increase Use of Trial-Based Functional Analyses by Clinicians in a Residential Setting for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Sellers and team worked with six clinical supervisors in a large adult residential center.

None of the supervisors were running trial-based functional analyses (TBFAs) before the study.

The researchers mailed each supervisor a one-page goal sheet and then gave weekly email feedback on TBFA completion.

They measured how many TBFAs each supervisor finished every week over the study period.

Five of the six supervisors went from zero TBFAs to steady weekly use after the remote package started.

The sixth supervisor only completed one TBFA and showed no change.

Gains stuck for most staff even after feedback emails stopped.

Whitehouse et al. (2014) already showed that brief in-person BST can teach residential staff to run full, traditional functional analyses.

Sellers et al. (2019) builds on that work by proving you can get the same boost with lighter, remote tools and the easier TBFA format.

Perrin et al. (2016) used goal setting plus public posting to lift data collection in the same setting; Sellers swapped public posting for private email feedback and targeted TBFA instead.

Neely et al. (2021) systematic review backs telehealth for behavior assessments, so the remote supervision here is not a one-off fluke.

You do not need to fly across the state to make supervisors assess.

A simple weekly email that states the goal and shows last week’s count can move practice where in-person training is costly.

Try the Sellers package first: send a clear weekly TBFA target, track completions, and reply with a short "Great job—5 done" or "Reminder—0 this week."

If a supervisor still stalls, layer in live coaching, but most will run with just the remote nudge.