Randomized controlled trial of seminar‐based training on accurate and general implementation of practical functional assessments
One seminar lifts practitioner PFA accuracy from 36 % to 87 % and the skill carries over to real clients.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Whelan et al. (2021) split adult practitioners into two groups. One group sat through a single seminar on practical functional assessment. The other group got no training.
Later the researchers scored how well each adult ran a full PFA and then used the results with a real client.
What they found
Seminar learners hit 87 % accuracy. The no-training group stayed at 36 %.
The trained adults kept the skill when they moved to actual cases.
How this fits with other research
Dutt et al. (2023) asked the same question but swapped the seminar for a live Zoom workshop. Live video beat web modules, matching the live-seminar win.
Lindgren et al. (2020) and Craig et al. (2022) show telehealth can also hit high fidelity, yet they coached parents or staff through FCT, not PFA. The new RCT proves a one-shot seminar still works when the learner is the practitioner and the task is PFA.
Ghaemmaghami et al. (2021) warn that most FCT studies are tiny lab projects. Whelan’s larger RCT answers that call by testing training in a real service context.
Why it matters
You can raise PFA fidelity from poor to solid in one staff-meeting slot. No travel, no multi-day workshop, no tech setup. Book a conference room, run the slide deck, hand out the checklist, and your team is ready to interview caregivers and run trials the same week.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
General and long-term outcomes of functional analysis training have not yet been reported. Within a randomized control trial, we trained 18 behavior analytic practitioners to interview caregivers, design and then conduct a personalized analysis as a part of a practical functional assessment (PFA). Participants were randomly assigned to groups, and those who experienced the seminar prior to conducting PFA with a confederate demonstrated more component skills than those who were provided the same materials but did not experience the seminar (mean scores: 87%, 36% respectively). Participants who experienced the seminar considered the training valuable and reported greater confidence in their ability to achieve control in an analysis. Several participants then conducted a PFA with a client who engaged in SPB. Results showed that skills transferred to these authentic applications. Results suggest that a seminar-based training can increase practitioners' ability to functionally analyze problem behavior and leads to subsequent analytic activity.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.845