A Behavior Analytic Perspective and Techniques on Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Course overview

Behavior analysts, throughout the course of their experience, application, and research in behavior analysis, may need to work in an interdisciplinary setting or with other professionals on an interdisciplinary team. There may be times where a colleague outside of the field of behavior analysis recommends a nonbehavioral treatment to a behavior analyst, opening up an opportunity for the behavior analyst to propose alternative approaches to treatment that are guided by behavior analytic principles. Although a behavior analyst should work toward maintaining an ethical balance between building relationships with professionals from other disciplines and the safety of the individual receiving services, it is also important for a behavior analyst to weigh whether addressing the nonbehavioral treatment is of value or not. Throughout this course, an overview of professional collaborative approaches will be discussed as well as the development of an interdisciplinary team and the collaborative skills that need to be taught for effective and efficient communication to occur within an interdisciplinary team. Once professionals are working in a collaborative manner within an interdisciplinary team, it is important for various considerations to be evaluated as well as analyzing any ethical considerations that may arise when treatment recommendations are proposed from other disciplines. Lastly, it is important for behavior analysts to be open-minded when considering treatment intervention recommendations from other disciplines that may share differing values or when working with professionals that have varying levels of training and experience. A set of guidelines are proposed as one option for behavior analysts to be able to use to evaluate nonbehavioral treatment intervention recommendations when working as a member of an interdisciplinary team.