Potential benefits of video training on fidelity of staff protocol implementation.

Abstract

In order for children to benefit from research-based protocols, it is necessary for professionals to implement the protocols with a high degree of fidelity. In this study, we tested the effects of reading a training manual, and a training package that included reading the manual followed by watching a training video on the fidelity of implementing the mirror protocol (e.g., Du & Greer, 2014) to induce generalized imitation. The participants were 16 first-year master’s degree candidates from an applied behavior analysis program at a major university. The participants were asked to first assess generalized imitation in a preschool student and then to conduct the mirror protocol with him or her based on the instructions of the manual. Results showed that most of the participants did not follow the exact procedure as a result of reading the manual only. A preand postintervention design across participants was used to test the effects of the training package. After the implementation of the training package, all but 1 participant were able to conduct errorless procedures with a preschooler (the last participant also achieved criterion after a booster training in 1-to-1 setting with the experimenter). Our results suggest that video training together with reading the manual was correlated with high fidelity of implementation of the complex protocol.