Behavior analytic contributions to public health and telehealth
JABA wants your telehealth and population-level studies—submit them.
01Research in Context
What this study did
LeBlanc et al. (2020) wrote the opening letter for a special JABA issue.
The editors asked readers to send in telehealth and public-health work.
No new data were collected; the paper is a call for submissions.
What they found
The journal will give fast review to studies that move ABA beyond clinic walls.
Remote parent training, large-area prevention, and tech tools are welcome.
How this fits with other research
Britwum et al. (2020) answered the call. They show how one university clinic switched to Zoom parent training in one weekend.
King et al. (2020) give ready-made handouts and two-minute videos so you can copy their foster-care telehealth model.
Reinert et al. (2020) add a free Google-Slides guide for digital activity schedules.
Together these papers turn the editorial wish list into step-by-step tools you can use tomorrow.
Davis et al. (1994) sounded a similar alarm 26 years earlier. They asked for community-wide studies to cut child behavior problems at the population level. LeBlanc et al. (2020) renews that plea with a telehealth twist.
Why it matters
If you have been waiting for permission to try remote ABA, this issue is it. The neighbor papers give you parent-training scripts, visual supports, and ethical checklists. Download them, plug in your clients, and submit your data. You will help build the public-health evidence base the editors want to see.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis is launching a special series on the topics of public health and telehealth. The special series begins with the articles in this issue and will continue for the next 2 to 3 issues with an open submission window until September 1, 2020. Behavior analysis has much to offer with respect to public health and much to gain from continued and expanded use of telehealth. This paper outlines the importance of these topics in the current crisis and in our ongoing evolution as a field. The historical literature in behavior analysis is reviewed for each topic along with suggestions for future research. The articles from the special series will be combined with historical contributions from JABA into a virtual issue. We encourage continued submissions on these topics even after the special series is completed as future papers will also be incorporated into the special issue.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2020 · doi:10.1002/jaba.749