Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

Advisor

Emmy Maurilus

Committee Member

Faheema Abdool-Ghany

Committee Member

Kimberly Durham

Keywords

challenging behavior, caregiver stress, skill-based treatment, telehealth, behavioral skills training

Abstract

This applied dissertation was designed to provide caregivers with an intervention strategy for the management of challenging behavior that is grounded in trauma-informed care and to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training on their procedural fidelity in its implementation. Maladaptive behaviors have negative effects not only on the children who exhibit them, but also their parents and other family members. Furthermore, these behaviors inhibit the ability of the child and their caregivers to access their community in beneficial ways, thereby hindering their quality of life. Caregivers often lack adequate training and support in the implementation of behavioral management strategies, often leading to the persistent occurrence and escalation of challenging behaviors.

The researcher developed a training program for the implementation of skill-based treatment by caregivers utilizing behavior skills training. This method included didactic instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback provided via synchronous and asynchronous remote training with caregivers. The researcher also evaluated social validity of the practical functional assessment and skill-based treatment through caregivers’ responses to questionnaires regarding their perceptions of the intervention’s acceptability, feasibility, effectiveness, and impact on their selfefficacy.

As skill-based treatment has been shown to be effective in reducing challenging behaviors when implemented by researchers and those with education or training in applied behavior analysis, this study extended the evidence by examining caregivers’ procedural fidelity. Effects of remote behavioral skills training on caregiver procedural fidelity was assessed by examining caregivers’ adherence to the guidelines in a task analysis. Results demonstrated increases in fidelity across caregivers following behavioral skills training, which were also shown to sustain in two postprobes. Caregivers reported high scores of acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness overall.

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