Association for Behavior Analysis International

Practitioners in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) encounter diverse client populations and must therefore be equipped to competently provide services across varied cultural groups. A diverse service population in combination with updated ethical guidelines for behavior analysts requiring the inclusion of cultural responsiveness, illustrates the need for curricula to develop culturally responsive practices. Unfortunately, there are currently no empirically validated approaches for increasing awareness, knowledge, and skills of cultural responsiveness in behavior analysts. Thus, an eight-hour training was developed on the topic of cultural responsiveness, comprised of cultural competence training, self-assessment, behavioral assessment and treatment, supervision, and ethics components. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) evaluate whether this eight-hour online course on culturally responsive behavior analytic practices would impact awareness and knowledge of participants, and (2) evaluate whether completing the online course would improve performance in clinical situations. Pre- and post-completion of the curricula, participants completed a survey, and a subset of participants provided a behavior sample (i.e., recorded video) to assess potential impacts on performance. Findings suggested that following the completion of the curricula, participants demonstrated increases in their knowledge of the material included in the course and self-rating of skills, but there were no significant increases in measured dimensions of cultural competence.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs®) are likely to interact with a wide variety of individuals, many of whom do not share their racial or cultural identities (Conners, 2021), which may increase the need for specific training in professional interactions that are culturally sensitive and responsive. Gatzunis (2023) used Behavioral Skills Training (BST) to increase the empathetic and culturally responsive functional behavior assessment (FBA) interviewing skills of caregivers who did not share the identity of the interviewers. Similar skills may be required for FBA interviewing related to sensitive behaviors, such as client use of discriminatory language. In the current study, we used BST and an FBA interview script to teach interviewing skills related to derogatory or discriminatory behavior to BCBAs in a multiple-probe design. During baseline and post-training, participants conducted mock FBA interviews with a confederate caregiver over videoconference. Data were collected on 22 interview skills across three areas: assessment skills, cultural competency, and empathetic and compassionate interview techniques. Indirect assessments were used to evaluate participant self-rated competence in conducting an FBA of discriminative language before and after training. Results suggest that BST improved the interview skills of all participants, despite some BCBAs self-rating their competence high during baseline.

Cultural responsiveness is an ethical responsibility for behavior analysts that must be upheld according to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). Despite this guideline, behavior analysts may need to be adequately equipped to engage in a culturally responsive manner with service recipients. Previous studies have shown that behavior skills training (BST) can increase cultural responsiveness among practitioners (Gatzunis et al., 2023). Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to replicate and extend Gatzunis et al. (2023) by evaluating the effects of BST to increase practitioner cultural responsiveness in the context of completing the Reinforcer Assessment for Individuals with Severe Disabilities (RAISD, Piazza et al., 1996). A multiple baseline across participants’ designs was used to evaluate the effects of a remotely delivered BST package on the cultural responsiveness skills of graduate students. Following the training, a social validity assessment was delivered to assess participants’ impressions of the training. Results provide implications for developing the cultural responsiveness skills of behavior analysts in the context of completing the RAISD.

ABA is a relatively new, popular, and controversial discipline in Turkey. Even if the first studies and books were published in the '90s, some scholars would mention the previously unpublished manuscripts. The study adopts the qualitative inquiry, and the interviews were conducted with the first scholars in Turkey. The participants, full-time professors in different universities, were determined by the purposive sample selection and the adapted snowball technique to reach each scholar. The study aims to enlighten the development of ABA in Turkey and seeks the following research questions: 1) How was it revealed, and what was the first action for ABA in Turkey? 2) How does ABA become visible, and which institutions, organizations, and people take roles? 3) How is going on about ABA in today: weaknesses and strengths? The data narrative analysis applies all interview transcripts, and the verbal history of ABA regenerates chronologically. The study can bring a new discussion about ABA development in Turkey.