Effect of Parental Presence on Functional Analysis Outcomes

Abstract

Identifying the function of a behaviour is regarded by behaviour analysts as the best way to develop an effective intervention. Functional analysis is the gold standard in identifying those contingencies that maintain problem behaviour. However, there are many variables which can affect the outcomes of functional analyses, such as the presence of a familiar person. Parents were taught to administer functional analysis conditions with their own child. A brief functional analysis was conducted by the researcher and then by the parent for each child. Conditions in which the problem behaviour occurred were then repeated alongside the control condition. The outcomes of the brief functional analyses, as well as the repeated conditions, were compared for differences in the functional relations identified and the amount of behaviour that occurred. The results showed differences in the functional relations identified for two out of the three children and more occurrences of the behaviour were seen in the parent-administered conditions. For one child, the setting in which the conditions were administered was also identified as a variable which affected the outcome. The results support previous studies, which illustrate the importance of considering idiosyncratic variables in both the design and interpretation of functional analysis outcomes.