Ongoing consultation as a method of improving performance of staff members in a group home.
Brief coaching works, but newer BST packs the punch into one session or even a 13-minute video.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mazur et al. (1992) tested a simple plan in a group home for adults with intellectual disability.
Staff got short mini-workshops, then a consultant watched them work and gave quick feedback.
The team tracked how well staff used token systems and how much residents joined activities.
What they found
Staff used the tokens better and residents took part more when the consultant kept visiting.
When the visits stopped, skills slid back.
The study showed that brief coaching helps, but you have to keep it going.
How this fits with other research
Hahs et al. (2019), Erath et al. (2020), and Erath et al. (2021) each found faster ways to hit high fidelity.
A single two-hour workshop, a one-day pyramid train, or even a 13-minute video lifted staff to 90-100 % integrity without weeks of drop-in coaching.
These newer studies do not contradict E et al.; they just show we can now get the same lift in less time and with less ongoing cost.
Richman et al. (2001) kept the idea of peer training but cut the outside consultant, proving the model can travel without the extra person.
Why it matters
If you still run weekly consult visits, try swapping one for a short video or peer-led BST.
You may keep the gains and free your calendar for other cases.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A model of ongoing consultation was implemented in a community group home for 8 adults with severe and profound mental retardation. Two consultants, highly experienced in working with people with mental retardation and in the procedures used in group homes, taught staff members to use a token reinforcement system, to engage the adults in a variety of activities, and to improve the content and style of the staff members' interactions with the adults. The consultants taught skills to 9 staff members through brief mini-workshops, direct observation of the staff members' use of the skills during regular activities in the group home, and individual verbal feedback regarding a staff member's performance of the skills. Evaluation of the ongoing consultation process by the 2 consultants showed it to be effective in improving the performance of the staff members and in changing the behaviors of the adults who lived in the home. Continued implementation of the process, however, appeared to be necessary for the behavior changes of staff members to be maintained at high levels.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1992 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1992.25-599