Abstract
Recent data indicate that BACB certificants are largely homogenous with respect to racial and gender identity. There is also evidence that many practitioners do not receive training in culturally responsive service delivery (CSRD). Applied behavior analysis (ABA) graduate programs would therefore benefit from incorporating training on diversity and CSRD. In this pilot investigation, a pre/post design was used to evaluate the effects of providing ABA faculty members with a supplemental diversity/CRSD curriculum on the presence of diversity/CRSD content in course syllabi. Six faculty members, who were collectively responsible for teaching courses in an ABA master’s program, participated in this study. All participants were provided with a general list of resources related to diversity/CRSD in ABA. The supplemental curriculum included tailored diversity course objectives and supporting resources for courses assigned to the intervention group. Results suggest that the provision of tailored objectives and supporting resources to faculty may lead to increases in diversity/CRSD content in course syllabi. Despite the methodological shortcomings of this pilot investigation, this study represents a preliminary step toward the development of a line of empirical research on ABA graduate training and diversity/CRSD. Implications for graduate training programs in ABA and future research in this area are discussed.
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The third author has an updated version the resource list; please email for access.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Allison Parker, Ashley Kemmerer, Caitlyn Manderski, and Lauren Goodwyn for their assistance developing the supplemental curriculum and Patricia Horgan for her help with data collection. Thanks to Adrienne Jennings and Ken Reeve for their comments and suggestions.
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All authors declare they have no conflicts of interest. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Ortiz, S.M., Joseph, M.A. & Deshais, M.A. Increasing Diversity Content in Graduate Coursework: A Pilot Investigation. Behav Analysis Practice 16, 222–231 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00714-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00714-8