The Impact of Working Alliance, Social Validity, and Teacher Burnout on Implementation Fidelity of the Good Behavior Game

This study examined the association of three teacher-specific factors on their level of treatment implementation of an evidence-based
classroom management strategy. The three factors were (a) the teacher–coach alliance, (b) teacher ratings of the intervention’s
social validity, and (c) teacher burnout. Results indicated that both teacher–coach alliance and social validity were uniquely
associated with treatment implementation. In addition, a model with all predictors revealed that the teacher–coach alliance
had the largest relation with treatment implementation. It was also found that the reported level of teacher burnout moderated
the relation between teacher–coach alliance and procedural fidelity. Specifically, teacher burnout was found to have a negative
relation to treatment implementation at low levels of teacher–coach alliance but no relation to treatment implementation at
high levels of teacher–coach alliance. These findings suggest that the teacher–coach relationship may not only play a direct
role in enhanced treatment implementation for school-based programs but also may mitigate the effects of teacher burnout.