Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol 23(4), Nov 2023, 275-289; doi:10.1037/bar0000278
Researchers have long noted gaps in the punishment literature, one of which is the use of preassessments to identify and select potential punishers. To date, the stimulus avoidance assessment (SAA) has guided research and practice on identifying and selecting punishing stimuli. Despite this, there are limited data surrounding this assessment. The purpose of the current study was to address this gap in the literature. We sought to examine the extent to which SAA outcomes informed the development of an efficacious treatment. We measured this by examining SAA procedures and outcomes (e.g., avoidance index) and final treatment efficacy based on selected SAA procedures. In general, we found SAA outcomes informed efficacious treatment development in the majority of cases. However, we observed variability in efficacious outcomes across cases as well as how clinicians used SAA outcomes to inform then final treatment. We discuss the implications of these findings and areas for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)