1. Social Validity

2. Wolf (1978)  JABA  Social Validity: The Case for Subjective Measurement or How Behavior Analysis is Finding Its Heart  An excerpt…

3. Social Validity  Refers to the degree that behavior-change efforts impact favorably upon consumers  Sometimes also called  Clinical importance, significance  Applied importance, significance  Qualitative change  Ecological validity  3 elements of an intervention that can be assessed for social validity  GOALS  PROCEDURES  OUTCOMES  Carr, Austin, Britton, Kellum, and Bailey (1999) found that social validity measures were  Reported in less than 13% of articles in JABA

4. Measuring Social Validity  Normative comparisons  Observe people who are considered competent and identify appropriate target behaviors  Used for comparison after treatment  Consumer Evaluations  Ask consumers to give their opinions  Used to establish/evaluate important and acceptable o Goals – but consider that source may not know o Procedures – who will be implementing them in the natural environment? Who will have influence to impede them? o Outcomes  Who are the consumers?

5. Who Are the Consumers of an Intervention?  Direct Consumers (directly receive tx)  Client/Participant  Family  Teacher(s)  Indirect Consumers (strongly affected by tx)  Family  Teacher(s)  Funding source  Members of Immediate Community  Neighbors  Friends  Members of Extended Community  People in the community who don’t know the participant

6. Measuring Social Validity  Videotape performance before and after tx to evaluate if clinically significant change  Interviews/Questionnaires/Rating Scales  May be helpful to have someone else assess or ask to mail in anonymously  Intervention Rating Profile  15-item Likert-type scale for assessing acceptability of classroom interventions  Treatment Acceptability Rating Form  20 Qs for parents to rate acceptability of txs in outpatient clinic  Treatment Evaluation Inventory (TEI)  Treatment Evaluation Inventory – Short Form (TEI-SF)

9. Please read each statement and check one box for each treatment. 1.I find this treatment to be an acceptable way of dealing with the child's problem behavior. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 2.I would be willing to use this procedure if I had to change the child's problem behavior. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 3.I believe that it would be acceptable to use this treatment without children's consent. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 4.I like the procedures used in this treatment. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 5.I believe this treatment is likely to be effective. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 6.I believe the child will experience discomfort during the treatment. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 7.I believe this treatment is likely to result in permanent improvement. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 8.I believe it would be acceptable to use this treatment with individuals who cannot choose treatments for themselves. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree 9.Overall, I have a positive reaction to this treatment. Strongly Disagree DisagreeNeutralAgree Strongly Agree

10. Ingersoll and Schreibman (2006)

11. Jones, Carr, and Feely (2006)

12. Issues with Subjective Evaluations  Subjective opinions often don’t correspond with actual behavior  Don’t just choose evaluators who are likely to approve of your goals, procedures, and outcomes  Identify who is in the group and why this group is relevant to the issue you’re assessing