Evaluation of a telehealth training package to remotely train staff to conduct a preference assessment

Higgins et al. (2017) tested a three-step telehealth package to teach staff how to run MSWO preference assessments. The steps were: watch a short video, get written feedback on practice, then do a live role-play with instant coaching.

Staff joined from their own homes. The team used a multiple-baseline design across participants to see if skills rose only after the package began.

Every staff member jumped to high fidelity right after the package and stayed there. Gains held one to two months later with no extra help.

Social validity was high; staff liked the format and said it saved travel time.

Slane et al. (2021) reviewed twenty studies and found BST reliably boosts staff fidelity across settings. The 2017 paper is one of the earliest to show the same effect can happen fully online.

Gatzunis et al. (2023), Neely et al. (2022), and MacNaul et al. (2022) later used the same telehealth package for different skills—interviewing, parent training, and caregiver coaching. Each study reached mastery in three to four sessions, showing the model extends beyond preference assessments.

DeFriedman (2021) even hit a 97 % drop in car-seat misuse with 171 parents, proving the telehealth BST format can scale to large groups while keeping strong effects.

You no longer need to drive to site to train staff. A one-hour Zoom package with video, feedback, and role-play can lock in preference-assessment fidelity for months. Use the same script to teach any discrete skill—parent prompts, RBT tasks, or teacher routines—without losing quality.