Proposal for Special Issue on Quality in Top Peer-Reviewed Journal Spearheaded by NASQN Leadership is Accepted
Everyone's talking about quality in the ABA autism services industry. Everyone claims to be delivering high-quality ABA services, but logically we know that can't be the case. Walk up to 25 different people at a behavior analytic conference, such as the upcoming 2025 Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA) convention in Dallas, and ask them what "quality ABA services" are, and you'll get 25 different answers.
As the demand for ABA autism services continues to increase, the field continues to struggle to produce enough qualified providers to meet the demand, and researchers continue to study the impact of private equity investments on ABA service quality; a clear understanding of quality assurance in ABA service delivery has never been more important.
Around 2019, a good friend and colleague asked me to how one could determine whether an ABA autism service organization provides high-quality ABA services. Despite having over a decade of experience in the ABA field, and teaching ABA at the university level for several years, I had no idea. I had never really given the concept of quality in ABA services serious thought, and I couldn't define it. And we realized that was a big problem.
To get a better answer to this question I developed a new research agenda focused on understanding ABA service quality in the autism service industry, and with my colleague's help, I initiated a study to (a) examine variability in how quality was defined in ABA research and practice, and (b) develop a framework within which to better understand ABA service quality empirically. Published in the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice in 2022, our findings suggested that a consensus definition of quality ABA services was lacking, and that as a result of a failure of the field to define quality and conduct research on quality assurance, behavior analysts are ill equipped to evaluate, control, and systematically improve the quality of their services.
As an initial step toward a more empirical understanding of ABA service quality, we offered the following definition of quality at the organizational level and action steps organizations can take from the top-down to start building systems and processes that positively impact ABA service delivery quality (ASDQ):
"the extent to which an organization’s ABA products, services, and outcomes meet standards determined by professionals and consumers, over time, in response to changes in a receiving system, while maximizing the financial health of the organization"
Over 9000 access online and 23 citations later (according to Google Scholar), peer-reviewed research on ABA service quality is still sorely lacking and in high demand.
But there is good news! The National ABA Service Quality Network (NASQN) is trying to change that!
NASQN is a grassroots group of interconnected ABA service delivery professionals who exchange information and resources that empower behavior analysts to deliver high-quality services with scientific management and robust quality assurance.
Our vision is to become America’s leading safeguard for quality in the ABA service delivery industry by promoting alignment of contingencies selective for high-quality services with ABA practices that produce optimal outcomes for service recipients, nationwide.
To achieve this new vision, NASQN will pursue a comprehensive five-pillar Action Plan for American ABA, consisting of 14 initiatives aimed at empowering ABA professionals to put quality at the forefront of everything they do, which includes pillar four, "Prioritizing ABA Service Quality in Research and Practice".
Towards that aim, NASQN seeks to create new contingencies in ABA research and practice that incentivize and accelerate empirical research on ABA service delivery quality, with a focus on quality assurance and scientific management of ABA service settings. Accordingly, in mid-2024 I drafted a proposal for a special issue on ABA service quality for the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice to stimulate more research on the topic, and reached out to colleagues Dr. Cody Morris (NASQN's current Chairperson of Research) and Dr. David Cox (leading ABA/AI researcher and innovator) for their support with refining and successfully submitting the proposal.
Thanks to these extraordinarily talented researchers and their shared commitment to high-quality ABA services for all, I am pleased to announce that the proposal was accepted, and the Call for Papers has gone live!
If you are currently conducting research on ABA service quality, or anticipate initiating research on this topic, please follow this link to the Call for Papers online and consider submitting your manuscript for this groundbreaking special issue!
-Bryant Silbaugh, Ph.D., BCBA, LBA
Founder, CEO, and Board President
National ABA Service Quality Network (NASQN)
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