title: Treatment integrity of school-based interventions with children in the journal of applied behavior analysis 1991-2005.
abstract: We reviewed all school-based experimental studies with individuals 0 to 18 years published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) between 1991 and 2005. A total of 142 articles (152 studies) that met review criteria were included. Nearly all (95%) of these experiments provided an operational definition of the independent variable, but only 30% of the studies provided treatment integrity data. Nearly half of studies (45%) were judged to be at high risk for treatment inaccuracies. Treatment integrity data were more likely to be included in studies that used teachers, multiple treatment agents, or both. Although there was a substantial increase in reporting operational definitions of independent variables, results suggest that there was only a modest improvement in reported integrity over the past 30 years of JABA studies. Recommendations for research and practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, 430 Huntington Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA. llmcinty@syr.edu
authors.forename: Laura Lee
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: McIntyre
authors.forename: Frank M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Gresham
authors.forename: Florence D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: DiGennaro
authors.forename: Derek D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Reed
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools