Clinical Science Quiz - Course 14

Clinical Concepts

• Clinical Scientist Model: Employs a scientific approach to provide clinical services effectively.
• Evidence Based Practice: Merges top-tier research with professional expertise while considering client traits.
• Pseudoscience: Refers to treatments falsely claimed to have a scientific basis, lacking proper scientific validation.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

• Dimensions of ABA: Outlined in a significant 1968 article by Baer, Wolf, and Risley.
• Memory Aid for Dimensions: "Get a Cab" is the acronym to remember the dimensions of ABA.
• Data Types in ABA: Two main types of data - continuous and discontinuous.

Data Collection

• Continuous Data: Records every instance of a behavior within a specified timeframe.
• Discontinuous Data: Samples behavior over a predetermined timeframe rather than recording every instance.
• Examples of Continuous Data Types: Frequency, rate, duration, latency, and inter-response time.
• Examples of Discontinuous Data Types: Partial interval, whole interval, momentary time-sampling, and planned activity check.

Data Collection Methods

• Discontinuous Data Collection Necessity: Sampling is essential in this methodology.
• Scatterplots: Utilized for analyzing the time distribution of a behavior.
• Frequency vs. Rate: Often debated whether these two concepts are synonymous.

Reliability and Validity in Data

• Reliability Definition: Represents the consistency and replicability of data.
• Interobserver Agreement (IOA): Measures the agreement between two independent observers collecting simultaneous data.
• Importance of Reliability: Critical for training new data collectors, preventing observer drift, maintaining behavior definition clarity, and ensuring accurate data representation.
• Validity Definition: Assesses how accurately data reflect the behaviors they intend to describe.
• Validity Factors: Include accuracy, representativeness, relevance, and significance of the captured data.

Practical Applications

• Effectiveness of Data Collection: Vital for ABA plans rather than optional.
• PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System): Primarily used for facilitating mands (requests).
• Teaching Prompting Strategies: Most-to-least prompting is a common strategy when teaching tasks like tooth brushing.

Behavioral Analysis

• Example of Multiple Stimulus Control: Benny's behavior of only eating vegetables at his grandmother's reflects this concept.
• Impact of System-wide Approaches: Strategies like positive behavior support have reduced the acceptability of punishment methods in social contexts.

Data Relevance and Representation

• Data Relevance: Ensures the information being collected is pertinent to the behavioral goals (e.g., latency measured vs. work duration goal).
• Data Representativeness: Alice's consistent data collection might lack broader applicability due to potential sampling bias.

Miscellaneous

• Questioning the Trust: Demonstrating knowledge through scenarios does not indicate a lack of trust from a supervisor.
• Data Validity Connection: Reliable data does not inherently mean it is valid; separate metrics exist for assessing both.
• Continuous Data Interpretation: Milton's data collection on duration is indeed classified as continuous.
• ADHD Assessment: Simply being able to sit still for television does not rule out ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
• Historical Behavioral Principles: Skinner's reinforcement principles were influenced by Thorndike's Law of Effect.
• Behavior Significance: Trixie's choice to exclude hair tugging in her data on self-injurious behaviors highlights the need for significance in data selection.