Accuracy of Caregiver Report for Evaluating Treatment Effects for Pediatric Feeding Disorder: A Replication

Abstract

ABSTRACT Interventions based on the principles of applied behavior analysis are highly effective at treating pediatric feeding disorder by increasing appropriate mealtime behaviors and decreasing inappropriate mealtime behaviors. Treatment effectiveness is usually evaluated with data collected by trained observers. Unfortunately, trained observers may not always be available or present to monitor child behavior. To address this barrier, caregivers may be able to track their child's feeding treatment progress. A recent preliminary study suggested that some caregivers' data may correspond well with trained observers and that caregivers can detect large changes in challenging behavior. In the current investigation, we replicated and extended Becraft et al. with 8 caregivers of children receiving treatment for pediatric feeding disorder. Overall, caregiver data were significantly correlated with observer data for inappropriate and appropriate behavior for seven out of eight caregivers. We also evaluated agreement between caregiver and observer data on the presence or absence of an effect (i.e., a difference between phases). Out of 16 possible phase contrasts, caregiver data agreed with observer data on whether there was a treatment effect 14 and 16 times via visual analysis for inappropriate and appropriate behavior, respectively. These preliminary data suggest that caregiver data may be used to track feeding treatment progress to determine whether there is a treatment effect with little to no formal data collection training.