Behavioral Assessment Interviews

Description of the Strategy

Behavioral assessment interviews are one means of obtaining information that can be used for development of a behavior support plan. Information obtained during a behavioral assessment interview is a verbal representation of past or current events or of perceptions, motivations, or interpretations of these events.

Behavioral assessment interviews typically rely on three types of interview questions. Structured questions provide the interviewee with a set of choice responses. For example, “Do you think the problem behavior is maintained by: escaping tasks or demands, obtaining tasks or activities, escaping social interactions, obtaining social interactions, or sensory stimulation?” The advantage of this format is the presentation of clearly defined and mutually exclusive technical terms that reduce bias on the part of the interviewer or interviewee. A disadvantage is that it may inadvertently misrepresent or exclude nuances of the interviewee's perceptions or beliefs that might add relevant pieces of information. Semistructured questions [Page 1174]dictate the content or intent of the question, but the response is open ended. For example, “What do you think is maintaining the problem behavior?” While the interviewee is directed toward describing the function of the behavior, he or she may not use the precise terms offered in the example and may instead use terms such as self-esteem or control. Given the faceto-face setting, the interviewer is able to follow up immediately and ask the interviewee to further define terms such as control. Although the open-ended response format may not provide the exact information desired, an advantage of semistructured questions is that unexpected information may be obtained. Finally, unstructured questions refer to a broadly defined topic and elicit open-ended responses. For example, “What are your thoughts about the problem behavior?” The topic involves problem behavior, but in this instance there is no guarantee that the response will address consequence events or function of the behavior. As with semistructured questions, responses to unstructured questions may not elicit sufficiently specific information. The advantage again is that unanticipated or unexpected information that contributes to the assessment or evaluation may be obtained. Selection of question format should be considered in regard to the depth and detail of information desired.

Within the continuum of information sources, behavioral assessment interviews are subjective and considered more direct than archival records but less direct than descriptive observations or experimental manipulations. Like rating scales and surveys, behavioral assessment interviews have the advantage of occurring face to face. This interactive nature of behavioral assessment interviews allows the interviewer to (a) clarify responses, (b) interpret awkward or misunderstood questions, (c) follow up on unanticipated responses, and (d) decrease the number of no responses experienced by rating scales and surveys.

The subjective nature of behavioral assessment interviews offers several advantages. First, behavioral assessment interviews provide a means of obtaining information when more objective methods are unavailable. Second, interviews provide a more complete understanding of the issue of concern. The opportunity to clarify, follow up, and discuss related information (e.g., observations, archival reviews) can assist the interviewer in refining the intervention plan and can increase the contextual fit between the intervention strategies and the intervention context. Finally, during the interview process, there is an opportunity to observe nonverbal behavior, compare and contrast it to verbal responses, and begin to develop rapport with the interviewee.

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