A review of research on direct-care staff data collection regarding the severity and function of challenging behavior in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Abstract

In working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), it is direct care staff who are often required to collect data on individuals' behavior which is used as the basis for implementation of empirically based approaches for intervention and treatment. Due to limited resources, indirect and descriptive measures of challenging behaviors are employed to analyze the function of individuals' behaviors in place of the preferred method of multimodal assessment, which includes experimental functional analysis. To ensure the most effective services and support to individuals with IDDs, accurate and consistent data collection is critical. In this article, we highlight the importance of accurate data collection practices, conduct a comparison of data collection methods, and discuss limitations .… and barriers for staff. The article concludes with recommendations for best practices and future research.

Functional analysis of problem behavior: A 40‐year review

“…Also of note were the numerous publications returned by our search that were not included in the current review because they were also reviews. Examples included functional analyses of elopement (Boyle & Adamson, 2017), brief functional analysis methodology (Gardner et al, 2012), caregiver‐implemented functional analyses (Germansky et al, 2020), functional analyses of tics (Goldman & DeLeon, 2020), precursor functional analysis methodology (Heath & Smith, 2019), functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior (Hodges, Davis, et al, 2020; Saini et al, 2019), functional analyses in public school settings (Lloyd et al, 2016), methodological variations (Lydon et al, 2012), direct‐care staff data collection (Madsen et al, 2016), training (McCahill et al, 2014; Samudre et al, 2022), functional analyses of verbal behavior (Plavnick & Normand, 2013), trial‐based methodology (Rispoli, Ninci, et al, 2014; Ruiz & Kubina, 2017), functional analysis efficiency (Saini et al, 2020), and idiosyncratic functional analysis variables (Schlichenmeyer et al, 2013).…”

Data Collection Function of Ferroelectric Memory in Intelligent High-speed Vehicle Monitoring System

“…Due to limited resources, indirect and descriptive measures of challenge behavior are used to analyze the functions of individual behaviors, rather than the preferred multimodal evaluation method, which includes experimental function analysis. In order to ensure that IDD individuals are provided with the most effective services and support, accurate and consistent data collection is essential [5]. Medley-Rath believes that the popularity of Facebook (FB) has prompted researchers to seek ways to use social media platforms in empirical research.…”

Using Microsoft Excel® to Build a Customized Partial-Interval Data Collection System

“…It is vital to have data collection procedures that are accurate, consistent, and reliable because practitioners of applied behavior analysis (ABA) rely on data to make informed clinical decision Najdowski, Chilingaryan, Bergstrom, Granpeesheh, Balasanyan, Aguilar, & Tarbox, 2009;Sleeper, LeBlanc, Mueller, Valentino, Fazzio, & Raetz, 2017). While data are essential to provide effective behavioral treatments, collecting it can be labor-intensive and time-consuming (Dixon, 2003;Madsen, Peck, & Valdovinos, 2015;Sleeper et al, 2017). Even after traditional paper-and-pencil data have been collected, a great deal of time is required for data transcription and graphing (Sleeper et al, 2017).…”