Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet

Behavioral Analytic Approach to Supervision

Description of the Strategy

With the growing prominence of the empirically supported treatment movement, there has been an increasing emphasis in some training models to base training on diagnosis and selection of treatment from the growing list of supported treatments. Training therapists in empirically supported treatments is still not normative, but the trend appears to be growing. There is no clearly agreed upon method of training therapists in these treatments, but often training follows the pattern of introducing the rationale or theory behind the treatment, observing tapes of the procedure, studying a manual that generally describes what is to be done in each session, and then practicing until the therapist meets some adherence criterion. Adherence to a treatment manual is generally judged according to some coding system that assesses whether the therapist is engaging in prescribed behaviors for each session. In some instances, coding systems also proscribe certain behaviors not consistent with the treatment model.

In some instances, empirically supported treatment coding systems include measures of competence as well as adherence. Adherence refers to conforming to the prescribed elements of the treatment at the correct time according to the protocol. Competence refers to the level of skill of the therapist conducting the specific therapy. Competence implies delivering the treatment in a manner to maximize effectiveness of the intervention. However, elements that comprise competence are not well specified.

Clinical Behavior Analysis

In addition to empirically supported treatments gaining prominence, clinical behavior analysis has also evolved over the last 15 years. The scope of behavior analysis has broadened to address clinical issues that have traditionally been the province of clinical psychology. This has presented challenges to the behavior analyst in determining how to apply the principles of contingency management to adult outpatient populations, where the degree of control over the environment is considerably less than in the institutional settings where behavior analysis has traditionally had so much success.

Training therapists in how to apply behavior change principles to more traditional behavioral problems presents interesting challenges. Some supervision issues are the same regardless of the type of therapy or behavior change model employed, while others are uniquely important to a behavior-analytic training model. In any professional training program, therapists can be expected to initially lack confidence and closely follow the advice of supervisors and engage in imitative behavior. Behavior-analytic supervision is particularly attentive to trying to minimize elements of these imitative behaviors. Other stages of training involve the mastery of the basic learning theory and the principles of behavior change, the ability to recognize how these principles manifest themselves in clinical settings, establishing oneself as a mediator of change during therapy, and finally, to analyze and implement change strategies in a flexible manner that is driven by data and an assessment of effectiveness, rather than following highly structured session plans.

Understanding the Principles of Behavior Change

Clinical behavior analysis assumes that behavior change in therapy is accomplished by application of the same learning principles that shape any human learning. Thus, therapists focus on understanding the experimental analysis of human behavior with training in understanding verbal behavior. In addition, the supervision process emphasizes the active role the therapist assumes in the change process. Behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy also describe the therapist as taking an active role in therapy, but in those cases, that means that the therapist sets an agenda, assigns homework, and has change as an explicit goal of therapy rather than only insight and understanding. In clinical behavior analysis, it means that the therapist is an active mediator of the reinforcers of behavior change.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

Loading