A Survey of Applied Behaviour Analysis Practitioners in Australia: Education, Training, and Barriers to Professional Practice

Erin Leif, Hannah Jennings, Brett Furlonger and Russell Fox
Additional contact information
Erin Leif: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia
Hannah Jennings: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia
Brett Furlonger: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia
Russell Fox: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia

Societies, 2020, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: In Australia, the prevalence of autism has increased over the past decade. This has resulted in increased demand for safe and effective interventions and supports. Many evidence-based interventions for individuals with autism have been derived from the scientific discipline of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). However, the professional practice of ABA is not yet formally regulated in Australia, and there are no national practice standards or qualification requirements for practitioners providing ABA-based interventions. In addition, very little is known about the qualifications and experiences of those in Australia who currently design and implement ABA intervention programs, information that would assist in developing practice standards and regulations for the profession. These regulatory and knowledge gaps have the potential to impact the safety of both consumers and practitioners. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to survey those who categorised themselves as ABA practitioners and, based on the analysis of the data, answer relevant questions about the status of the profession and provide recommendations for the development of ABA as a profession in Australia.

Keywords: Applied Behaviour Analysis; ABA; autism; policy; professional regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/4/99/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/4/99/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:10:y:2020:i:4:p:99-:d:461835

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().