Demographic Reporting of Students and Implementation Teams in School-Based Single-Case Research for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Assessing the extent to which interventions might generalize involves an understanding of for whom and in what contexts interventions have succeeded. Identifying the characteristics of service recipients as well as observers, teachers, and other members of implementation teams involved in intervention research represents an emerging consideration in special education literature involving single-case designs. In addition, the effectiveness of interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) may be influenced by cultural, linguistic, and economic differences between students and interventionists. This review describes the characteristics of students with EBD and implementation teams featured in single-case design behavior intervention studies published in nine special education journals from 2000 to 2020. Screening of available studies ( n = 4,877) resulted in a sample of 140 articles. Reports of student demographic data were high (66.4%–98.6% of articles depending on the variable); however, authors typically did not describe students’ socioeconomic status (SES). Information regarding implementation teams varied from 1.4% to 46% of articles depending on the variable. Implications for future research follows a discussion of findings.