Direct assessment of quality of care in an applied behavior analysis center

Abstract

Momentary time sampling has been used to evaluate quality of care in several settings, including residential facilities and nursing homes. Given the growing number of behavior analysts providing center-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy to children with autism spectrum disorders, ABA centers are a new area in which assessing environmental indicators that might be correlated with the quality of care could be very important. Therefore, we extended these procedures to an ABA center, where we used momentary time sampling to assess staff behavior, client behavior, client condition, and environmental condition. The results demonstrated that this descriptive assessment can be a useful tool to obtain direct measures of variables that might affect quality of care. The general utility of this assessment, intervention plans for targets identified by this assessment, limitations of the assessment, and directions for future research in this area are discussed. K E Y W O R D S assessment, autism, quality of care, staff behavior, time sampling

Teaching behavior analysts in an early intensive behavioral intervention setting to conduct a structured mealtime protocol

“…It is equally important to highlight that quality of care is a critical consideration for clinicians who decide to provide feeding services in community-based settings. Grauerholz-Fisher et al (2019) evaluated staff behavior (e.g., staff member is engaged in positive interaction with the client), client behavior (e.g., the client is engaged in problem behavior), the condition of clients (e.g., the client is free from restraint), and environmental conditions (e.g., room is free from choking hazards) in three ABA centers of a private company. that influence quality of care.…”

“…that influence quality of care. Future research could extend Grauerholz-Fisher et al (2019) and develop a similar assessment to observe and measure variables that influence the quality of care for feeding services in ABA centers.…”

“…Grauerholz‐Fisher et al. (2019) evaluated staff behavior (e.g., staff member is engaged in positive interaction with the client), client behavior (e.g., the client is engaged in problem behavior), the condition of clients (e.g., the client is free from restraint), and environmental conditions (e.g., room is free from choking hazards) in three ABA centers of a private company. Although feeding was not the focus of their study, Grauerholz‐Fisher et al.…”

“…Although feeding was not the focus of their study, Grauerholz‐Fisher et al. (2019) developed a practical way to calculate measures of different areas that influence quality of care. Future research could extend Grauerholz‐Fisher et al.…”

Educating behavior clinicians in a community behavior care center for children with autism spectrum disorder: Medication administration a pilot study in the United States

“…There is a growing number of behavior clinicians now providing behavior modification therapy to children with ASD in behavior care centers. This necessitates a careful review of essential duties of the clinician within these settings (Grauerholz-Fisher et al, 2019). In the state of Indiana, US, there are approximately 65 behavior care centers serving children with ASD (Indiana Resource Center for Autism, 2018).…”