Training family therapists: an experimental analysis.

Rapport et al. (1982) built a clinic package for new family therapists. They used a manual, video models, rehearsal, role plays, and live feedback. The team tracked skills with a multiple-baseline design across three therapist-parent-child triads.

Each trainee practiced until they hit mastery. The study then watched whether parents used the skills and whether kids obeyed more often.

After training, every therapist jumped from shaky to solid on the target skills. Parents started using the same skills at home. Child compliance rose in every family. The gains held without extra coaching.

In short, the BST package created a ripple: better therapist → better parent → better child.

Courtemanche et al. (2021) ran the same four-step BST recipe with 36 staff at once. They hit 85–100 % accuracy and cut training time for the second cohort. The 1982 clinic model still works; you just scale it up.

Kamana et al. (2024) moved BST out of the clinic and into busy IDD group homes. They added on-the-job feedback so skills survived staff turnover. The core package is unchanged; the extra layer keeps it alive in the real world.

Mery et al. (2022) and Ólafsdóttir et al. (2026) added a pyramidal twist. They taught students or supervisors first, then let them train the rest. Fidelity stayed high, proving BST can multiply itself without a senior BCBA at every session.

Yang (2022), Galuska et al. (2006), Lavie et al. (2002), and O’Handley et al. (2021) all swapped the target skill—MSWO, infant repositioning, paired-stimulus, you name it. The same brief package still worked. BST is skill-agnostic; the process, not the content, drives the gain.

You no longer need one-to-one coaching to build staff skills. Use the 1982 recipe—manual, model, rehearse, feedback—and you can train one person or forty. Add pyramidal layers or on-the-job check-ins if your setting has churn. Pick any skill your team needs; the BST engine runs anyway. Start Monday by filming a two-minute model and scheduling five-minute rehearsal rounds. The data say that is enough to turn novices into reliable implementers who pass the skill forward.