Does a pre-intervention functional assessment increase intervention effectiveness? A meta-analysis of within-subject interrupted time-series studies.

This study examined the relative effectiveness of interventions based on a pre-intervention functional behavioral assessment (FBA), compared to interventions not based on a pre-intervention FBA. We examined 19 studies that included a direct comparison between the effects of FBA- and non-FBA-based interventions with the same participants. A random effects meta-analysis of effect sizes indicated that FBA-based interventions were associated with large reductions in problem behaviors when using non-FBA-based interventions as a reference intervention (Effect size=0.

Advances in the indirect, descriptive, and experimental approaches to the functional analysis of problem behavior.

Background: Experimental functional analysis is an assessment methodology to identify the environmental factors that maintain problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities and in other populations. Functional analysis provides the basis for the development of reinforcement-based approaches to treatment.

Methods: This article reviews the procedures, validity, and clinical implementation of the methodological variations of functional analysis and function-based interventions.