Effects of telehealth‐mediated behavioral assessments and interventions on client outcomes: A quality review
Telehealth reliably runs assessments and skill lessons, yet we still lack proof it can safely manage severe problem behavior.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors read every telehealth ABA paper they could find. They kept 29 studies that used video calls to run assessments or teach skills.
They looked for two things: did the remote setup work, and was it safe for reducing problem behavior.
What they found
Video-based preference assessments and skill lessons held up well. Parents and staff learned the steps and scores matched in-person data.
Only a handful of studies tried telehealth for hitting, biting, or self-injury. Those numbers were too small to trust.
How this fits with other research
Ausenhus et al. (2019) and Zhu et al. (2020) show the same good news. Remote coaches can train staff to mastery in just a few Zoom sessions.
Wine et al. (2022) pushed it further. They ran a whole COVID safety plan through screens and kept a school infection-free.
Put together, the pattern is clear: teaching and assessing work fine through a camera, but stopping dangerous behavior still needs boots on the ground.
Why it matters
You can start new clients tomorrow with a parent-led preference assessment over Zoom. Use screen-share to mark the data sheet together. Save the long drive.
Hold off on telehealth for serious aggression. Until stronger studies arrive, keep those cases in-person or with hybrid safety plans.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this review was to evaluate the quality of research focused on the effects of telehealth-mediated behavior-analytic assessments and interventions on client outcomes. The majority of studies utilized a single-case methodology (n = 44; 81%), while 10 studies (19%) used a group design. Of the 246 single-case designs, 99 (40%) met design standards with or without reservation. For the 10 group design studies, 7 (70%) met the design standards. When evaluating the evidence offered according to the prime independent variable (e.g., behavior assessment, intervention designed for behavior reduction, and intervention designed to establish or strengthen behavior), the literature supports the use of telehealth to conduct behavior assessments and provide interventions designed to establish or strengthen behavior. Additional research is necessary to establish the use of telehealth to conduct interventions designed for behavior reduction. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.818