THE EFFECTS OF VIDEO FEEDBACK AND SELF-MONITORING ON THE TREATMENT INTEGRITY OF SOCIAL-SKILLS GROUP THERAPISTS

Abstract

The study evaluated the effectiveness of a video feedback and self-monitoring intervention on the treatment integrity of undergraduate student therapists leading a social skills group in a small clinic for children with autism. The student therapists’ behavior targeted for intervention included the delivery of reinforcement, the delivery of an error-correction procedure, and the delivery of a demand while programming for social interactions within the social skills group. Using a multiple-baseline across behaviors design, the procedure consisted of pre-baseline training, baseline, video feedback with self-evaluation, followed by self-monitoring once a preset criterion had been met. Results indicated that the video feedback increased treatment integrity to mastery criteria, and that the self-monitoring component somewhat maintained the mastery level of performance across participants. However, the time constraints and the rate at which the behavior changed lead to practical limitations of the intervention.