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Ethical Issues and Considerations

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Functional Assessment for Challenging Behaviors

Part of the book series: Autism and Child Psychopathology Series ((ACPS))

Abstract

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) refers to a range of methods designed to identify the environmental variables that control problematic behaviors. Methods for collecting these data revealing these variables include indirect measures, such as interviews and questionnaires, or direct methods, such as narrative recording of the antecedents that precede responses of interest and the consequences that follow them. Many behavior analysts believe that the “gold standard” of FBA is experimental functional analysis (FA) (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richmond, 1982/1994), which systematically arranges consequences for problem behaviors to identify their functions, that is, the reinforcers that maintain those behaviors. FBA is one of several ways of collecting information about clients, and professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) have established general ethical guidelines regarding how assessments should be conducted and interpreted. For example, Standard 9 of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct promulgated by the APA (2010) is devoted entirely to assessment. The same is true of Standard 3.0 of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct (BACB Guidelines, BACB 2011). That standard is presented in Table 13.1. Any practitioner who abides with the standards established there and elsewhere in the Guidelines is therefore behaving ethically, regardless of whether he or she is involved in functional assessment or another professional activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008-5439, USA

    Alan Poling, Stephanie M. Peterson, Amanda Mahoney & Marc Weeden

  2. School of Psychology, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, UK

    Jennifer L. Austin

  3. Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 49008, USA

    Marc Weeden

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  1. Alan Poling
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  2. Jennifer L. Austin
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  3. Stephanie M. Peterson
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  4. Amanda Mahoney
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Correspondence to Alan Poling .

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  1. , Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 70803, USA

    Johnny L. Matson

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Poling, A., Austin, J.L., Peterson, S.M., Mahoney, A., Weeden, M. (2012). Ethical Issues and Considerations. In: Matson, J. (eds) Functional Assessment for Challenging Behaviors. Autism and Child Psychopathology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3037-7_13

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