Jennifer M. Asmus, Joel E. Ringdahl, Jennifer A. Sellers, Nathan A. Call, Marc S. Andelman, & David P. Wacker (2004).
Use of a short-term inpatient model to evaluate aberrant behavior: Outcome data summaries from 1996 to 2001.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
37, 283-304.
Previous outcome studies have provided descriptions of functional analyses conducted in
outpatient clinics (Derby et al., 1992), long-term inpatient programs (Iwata, Pace, et al., 1994),
and home environments (Wacker et al., 1998). This study provides a description of 138 children
and adults with and without developmental disabilities who were evaluated and treated for
aberrant behaviors on a short-term inpatient unit. The results indicated that the functional
analyses conducted during a short-term inpatient evaluation were successful for 96% of the
participants in identifying maintaining reinforcers of aberrant behavior and leading to an 80%
or greater reduction in aberrant behavior for 76% of the participants in an average of 10 days.
DESCRIPTORS: aberrant behavior, epidemiological studies, functional analyses, inpatient evaluation, outcome, short-term treatment