Self-Instruction Manuals and Data Collection

This study serves to examine strategies to better equip caregivers to identify functions of behavior, utilize function-based strategies independently, and generalize those interventions to various community settings. This was identified as a need area due to clinicians not providing sufficient parent training and caregivers facing barriers in attending trainings that are available, all for various reasons. Participants were six single caregivers residing in Lancaster County with varying backgrounds with receiving ABA services. Single caregivers were chosen specifically as research has demonstrated increased stress levels and decreased opportunities for community involvement among this demographic. Participants collected three-term contingency behavior data and provided responses to open-ended interview questions so data could be collected through a sequential exploratory method that utilized both quantitative and qualitative data. The open-ended responses were coded via content analysis to analyze effectiveness and ease of implementation of prescribed function-based interventions. All participants saw a decrease in perceived intensity of behaviors targeted for reduction and were able to implement function-based strategies in both the home and community settings.