Association for Behavior Analysis International

Professional behavior analysts are expected to refer to the scholarly literature to guide their evidence-based clinical practices. Further, practicing behavior analysts will typically have multiple occasions to seek guidance with ethical decision making throughout their careers. The current symposium will include an overview of research and initiatives to assist professional behavior analysts with these tasks. The first presentation reports on a study of professional behavior analysts' literature search practices. Bank and Ingvarsson implemented an online survey, followed by interviews and self-monitoring with practicing BCBAs. The data suggest many participants search for literature at least once per month. Satisfaction with current literature resources decreased for those participants without a university library. Many professionals report conference attendance as a source of literature access. Juanico, Valentino and LeBlanc describe the development of a literature request service for a large service agency. They report employee literature requests received a response within two days. Valentino and LeBlanc describe a system developed in the same service agency to promote ethical behavior in the organization including an ethics network hotline. They report that ethical requests are frequently related to areas such as client rights and protection, dual relationships, and confidentiality. These presentations help gain insight to the literature searches and ethical needs of professionals in the field and describe the development of organizational supports provided to assist practitioners in both clinical and ethical decision making.

The target audience of this symposium includes all professionals credentialed by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and those working towards that credential.

The first section of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's Professional and Ethical Compliance Code (BACB, 2017) refers to the responsible conduct of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Included in the code is the expectation that professionals read the appropriate literature. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate how, why, and to what extent professionals access and read the behavior analysis literature. A 22-question survey was sent to professionals registered through the Behavior Analysis Certification Board. The survey respondents were also invited to participate in a follow up interview and self-tracking investigation. The survey results of 398 professionals provided information on their professional credentials, work structure, literature search habits, sources of research, resource satisfaction, and other related activities. Seventeen interviews and four self-tracking participants provided additional insight. A total of 223 respondents did not have access to a university library. Eighty percent of these participants searched for research at least once per month. The most frequently used online sources included Google Scholar, PubMed, and the BACB ProQuest benefit. Thirty eight percent of participants indicated satisfaction with the research resources available to them, while 62% indicated they were somewhat satisfied or not satisfied. The predominant theme related to lack of satisfaction was access. Fifty four percent of participants that had access to a university library reported they were satisfied with the research resources available.