Eight Months of Telehealth for a State-Funded Project in Foster Care and Related Services: Progress Made and Lessons Learned
Telehealth keeps foster-youth ABA appointments high without hurting quality.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Coon et al. (2022) tracked a state-funded telehealth ABA program for foster youth. They ran the service for eight months and compared appointment counts and quality before and after the switch to online care.
The team served a mixed group of children in foster care. No control group was used.
What they found
Total client appointments went up after the move to telehealth. Quality scores stayed the same.
In plain words, kids kept getting seen and the work stayed solid.
How this fits with other research
Ferguson et al. (2018) reviewed 28 telehealth ABA studies for autism and saw only weak designs. Coon’s real-world data now show the model can scale without quality loss, filling the gap Ferguson flagged.
Neely et al. (2021) warned that behavior-reduction telehealth evidence is thin. Coon’s foster-youth sample adds a year of data, but still leans on skill-building more than severe behavior cases.
Hall et al. (2022) proved telehealth FCT gains last three years for boys with fragile X. Coon shows the same delivery mode can also keep regular ABA appointments flowing for foster youth.
Why it matters
If you serve foster youth or other hard-to-reach kids, telehealth can keep them on your schedule. You do not need to fear a drop in quality. Book online sessions when transport or placement changes block in-person visits. Track your own appointment counts and fidelity checklists to be sure the shift is working for your caseload.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many behavior analysts and other health professionals modified their services for delivery via telehealth modalities. The transition to telehealth is especially important for providers working with foster youth who exhibit challenging behavior because these youth often move to another placement due to such behaviors. The primary objective of this article was to evaluate the extent to which service indicators for a state-funded team working with foster youth changed after the service delivery model changed from in-person to telehealth services. In particular, we evaluated changes in monthly count of client contacts, appointments, intakes, closed cases, and medication reviews. The secondary objective was to outline potential benefits and environmental barriers encountered by the team and to integrate our findings with the literature on behavior-analytic services provided via telehealth. Overall, results show that we maintained service quality with a broad range of behavioral interventions and increased overall client appointments. Given these outcomes, our team may continue to provide behavioral services via telehealth after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40617-022-00682-z