Creating and Sustaining an International Collaboration in Behavior Analysis

Cihon et al. (2018) tell the story of one international ABA team that stayed together for years.

The authors list every step they took to start the group, pick shared goals, and solve culture clashes.

No clients were treated; this is a road map other teams can copy.

The team lasted because they wrote down "cultural systems" rules early.

Examples: pick one common language for data, rotate meeting times so no time zone always loses sleep, and write a shared mission statement before any work begins.

Dennison et al. (2019) take the same culture-first idea into homes. They tell you to ask each family what targets matter to them and use bilingual materials.

Hugh-Pennie et al. (2022) move the idea into U.S. classrooms. They show how to embed culture into everyday ABA tactics like behavioral skills training.

Lerman (2024) builds on the road map and adds a dissemination blueprint. The new paper keeps the team structure advice but tells you how to hand the tools to teachers, nurses, and police.

Zhu et al. (2020) seem to disagree at first—they ran a China-based study with only remote feedback and no culture talk. In fact, their success shows that once cultural systems are set (as Cihon advises), remote coaching can work across borders.

If you supervise staff or train parents from another country, copy the checklist: write a shared mission, pick one data language, and rotate meeting times. Do it in session zero, before you teach a single program. This front-loaded culture work prevents later drop-outs and saves you from redoing training.