Effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation

By Samual Song, Shannon Dowd and Emily Warnes

Abstract

Introduction Conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC: Sheridan, Kratochwill, and

Bergan, 1996) is a structured, indirect model of service delivery in which parents and teachers come together to address the social, behavioral and academic concerns of a particular student. Parents and teachers serve as joint consultees, who are guided through the consultation process by a school psychologist. One goal of CBC is that through collaborative problem solving among the participants, problems are identified, analyzed and treated.

In addition to addressing the target concerns, another goal of CBC is to focus on process issues. Specifically, to empirically validate the relational benefits associated with strengthening the home-school partnership and improving the communication between the child, family and school personnel.

Purpose of Study The purpose of this study was to determine the

effectiveness of CBC in addressing both the anger episodes and out of seat behavior displayed by an 11 year old male. It was hypothesized that by engaging in the CBC process, two separate plans would be developed. One that would reduce the frequency of the anger episodes in the home setting, and another that would reduce the out of seat behavior in the school setting. Results of the study indicate that the goal of consultation was met in the home setting, and partially met in the school setting.

Methods

Results

Discussion It was hypothesized that through the CBC process, two plans would be

developed to address the concerns of an 11-year old male. The first plan would reduce the frequency of anger episodes and the second plan would reduce out of seat behavior. Results indicate that the plan to reduce anger episodes was effective, and the plan to reduce out of seat behavior was only partially effective.

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of CBC in treating behavioral and social concerns (Sheridan, 1998). The results designed to reduce the first target behavior, anger episodes, support this finding. Despite the limited amount of baseline data, the subject involved in CBC demonstrated a significant reduction in anger episodes. Further, these effects were still present at the follow up evaluation (# weeks later). Due to the significant reduction in anger episodes as well as the maintenance of these effects, the authors conclude that CBC is an effective treatment tool for addressing anger episodes.

Discussion Continued

The results of the treatment designed to reduce the second target concern, out of seat behavior, found only moderate support. The data indicate that out of seat behavior was reduced during the first week; however, the data was variable during the second week of treatment. It should be noted that the teacher reported that she did not implement the treatment during the second week, and this may have accounted for the varied data points.

One implication of the present study is that it lends additional empirical support for CBC as an effective tool for addressing social, behavioral and academic concerns. Specifically, it has demonstrated that through mutual collaboration, parents, teachers and consultants can develop a plan to effectively reduce the anger episodes displayed by an 11-year old male.

Limitations One limitation of the present study is the

absence of measures that ensure treatment integrity. For example, the inclusion of frequent follow-up phone calls to the participants might be beneficial. In addition, providing intervention checklists which contain the steps of the plan to the consultees might also aid in the implementation of the treatment.

Future Research Future researchers in the area of Conjoint

Behavioral Consultation should focus on empirically validating relational processes as well as data regarding various target behaviors. Researchers can extend this view to include the relational benefits of bringing together the parents, teachers and consultants. Some of these benefits include strengthening the home-school partnership and increasing the communication among the child, family and school personnel.