In Chapter 12 the author reveals common ethical issues that you may face in your career of working as a BCBA in the clinical/applied field. Once again using real cases communicated to him

Ethics for Behavior Analysts

Tis fully updated fourth edition of Jon S. Bailey and Mary R. Burch’s bestselling Ethics for Behavior Analysts is an invaluable guide to understanding and implementing the newly revised Behavior Analyst Certifcation Board® (BACB) Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.

Featured in this new edition are explanations of each code standard along with case studies drawn from questions submitted to Bailey’s ABA Ethics Hotline (with permission of the writers of the cases) along with edited responses. New chapters include signifcant changes in this code, an elaboration of the core ethical principles, and the distinction between a client and stakeholder. Further new features include a chapter on ethical decision- making, including fowcharts demonstrating how to arrive at ethical decisions. Additional new chapters focus on f nding an ethical place to work, an updated code of ethics for organizations, and how to fle a Notice of Alleged Violation.

Tis text is the go-to ethics resource for behavior analysts in training and in practice.

Jon S. Bailey, PhD, BCBA-D, is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, where he has taught for over 50 years. Currently, he teaches ethics and other graduate courses for behavior analysts. He was a founding director of the Behavior Analyst Certifcation Board® and is past president of the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis.

Mary R. Burch, PhD, BCBA-D, is a Board Certif ed Behavior Analyst®. She has more than 25 years’ experience in developmental disabilities. She has been a behavior specialist, QMRP, unit director, and consulting behavior analyst in developmental disabilities, mental health, and preschool settings.

“Tis book is an essential resource for behavior analytic ethics courses. T e way that the fourth edition highlights the changes made in the 2022 version of the Behavior Analyst Certifcation Board® Ethics Code is invaluable and so helpful for anyone who uses the text. Te presentation of considerations and a decision- making fowchart provides such a pragmatic way to solve ethical dilemmas.”

Adel C. Najdowski, PhD, BCBA-D, Associate Professor, Pepperdine University

“Te 4th edition of Ethics for Behavior Analysts is a must read for all behavior analysts. Professors, students, and practitioners have relied on Drs. Bailey and Burch as well-established experts in the areas of ethics and professional behavior in the feld of ABA for years and will be well-served continuing to do so with the latest edition to this textbook.”

Stephanie Kuhn, PhD, LP, LBA, BCBA-D, Associate Professor; Program Coordinator, Applied Behavior Analysis Program,

Western Connecticut State University

Praise for the previous edition:

“Ethics for Behavior Analysts, 3rd Edition by Bailey and Burch is another winner. It covers all the essential elements of ethics in an accessible and comprehensive manner. With valuable new chapters, the most up-to-date information, and numerous case examples that facilitate a problem-solving approach to ethical issues, this book is an invaluable resource. Students and professionals in behavior analysis should keep it close at hand.”

Raymond G. Miltenberger, PhD, BCBA-D, Professor, University of South Florida

“Tis book is the ‘go-to’ ethics book for our feld of applied behavior analysis. Bailey and Burch handle the universe of ethics with a perfect touch. Ranging from formal presentation of ethical requirements, to real-life examples that all readers will relate to, this book will raise the awareness of ethics and ethical conduct, which in turn will increase the chances that the clients who we serve will be treated humanely and safely.”

T omas Zane, PhD, BCBA-D, Institute for Behavioral Studies, Endicott College

“Bailey and Burch bring clarity to the BACB Professional and Ethical Compliance Code through cogent discussion of each element and thought- ful consideration of the myriad issues facing practicing behavior analysts. Practitioners of all levels will f nd valuable insight from numerous examples of real-life ethical dilemmas.”

Dorothea C. Lerman, PhD, BCBA-D, University of Houston, Clear Lake

Ethics for Behavior Analysts

Fourth Edition

Jon S. Bailey and Mary R. Burch

Cover image: Cover Design by CuneoCreative.com

Fourth edition published 2022 by Routledge 605 Tird Avenue, New York, NY 10158

and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2022 Taylor & Francis

Te right of Jon S. Bailey and Mary R. Burch to be identifed as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereaf er invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Routledge 2005 Tird edition published by Routledge 2016

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-1-032-05644-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-05642-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-19855-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003198550

Typeset in MinionPro by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032056449

Tis 4th edition of our Ethics for Behavior Analysts book is dedi- cated to the memory of my dear friend and colleague, Gerald L. “Jerry” Shook, PhD, BCBA-D (1948–2011). You had a vision of a profession of behavior analysis and created the Behavior Analyst Certifcation Board as an instrument to bring it to life. You advo- cated for a code of ethics from the very beginning and encouraged me to promote it. You changed my life.

—Jon Bailey, BCBA-D

Photo of Jerry Shook

Contents

Preface to the Third Edition ix Preface to the Fourth Edition xiii Acknowledgments xv Disclaimer xvii

UNIT I Background for Ethics in Behavior Analysis Chapter 1 How We Got Here 3

Chapter 2 Changes to the 2022 Ethics Code 15

Chapter 3 Everyday Ethical Challenges for Average Citizens and Behavior Analysts 29

UNIT II Understanding the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts

Chapter 4 Core Principles and Distinction of Client Versus Stakeholder 39

Chapter 5 Ethical Decision-Making: Simple Ethical Questions Versus Complex Ethical Dilemmas 51

vii

viii • Contents

UNIT III Ethics Standards Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Section 1: Responsibility as a Professional

Section 2: Responsibility in Practice

Section 3: Responsibility to Clients and Stakeholders

69

123

173

Chapter 9 Section 4: Responsibility to Supervisees and Trainees 211

Chapter 10 Section 5: Responsibility in Public Statements

Chapter 11 Section 6: Responsibility in Research

247

273

UNIT IV Professional Skills for Ethical Behavior Analysts

Chapter 12 Delivering the Ethics Message Effectively

Chapter 13 Using a Declaration of Professional Practices and Procedures for Behavior Analysts

Chapter 14 Finding an Ethical Place to Work

Chapter 15 Practical Tips for Ethical Conduct on Your First Job

307

323

335

349

Chapter 16 A Code of Ethics for Professional Organizations

Chapter 17 Reporting a Behavior Analyst via Notice of Alleged Violation

371

379

Appendix A: Glossary 393

Index 399

Preface to the Third Edition

My frst experience in ethics came when I was a graduate stu- dent in psychology in the late 1960s. I was working with a

profoundly developmentally disabled young man who was con- fned to a heavy metal crib in the small ward of a private institu- tion in Phoenix, Arizona. Blind, deaf, non-ambulatory, and not toilet trained, my “subject” engaged in self-injurious behavior vir- tually all day long. His head-banging behavior against the metal bars could be heard 25 yards away and greeted me each time I entered his depressing, malodorous living unit. Day afer day, I sat by his crib taking notes on a possible thesis concerning how one might try to reduce his chronic self-injurious behavior or SIB (we called it self-destructive behavior in those days). Afer a few infor- mal observation sessions, and reading through his medical chart, I had some ideas. I set up a meeting with one of my committee members, Dr. Lee Meyerson, who was supervising the research at the facility. “I’m observing a subject who engages in self-destruc- tive behavior,” I began. “He hits his head 10 to 15 times per min- ute throughout the day. I’ve taken informal data at dif erent times

ix

x • Preface to the T ird Edition

of the day, and I don’t see any consistent pattern,” I of ered. Dr. Meyerson let me go on for about 10 minutes, nodding and occa- sionally taking a puf on his pipe (smoking was allowed every- where in those days). Ten he stopped me abruptly and, gesturing with his pipe, began to ask me questions that I had never thought about. Did I know my “subject’s” name? Did I have permission to observe and report on this individual? Who gave me permission to look at this medical record? Had I discussed this case with any of my graduate student colleagues or shown the data in class? I had no good answers to any of Dr. Meyerson’s questions. I wasn’t thinking of my “subject” as a person, only as a source of data for my thesis. It never dawned on me that “Billy” had rights to privacy and conf dentiality and that he needed to be treated with dignity and respect, not as just another “subject” to help me complete a degree requirement. As it turns out, Dr. Meyerson was ahead of his time in grilling me with ethical questions that would not be addressed in legal circles for another ten years (see Chapter 1). Dr. Meyerson’s questions helped sensitize me to looking at what I was doing from an extra-experimental perspective. How would I like to be treated if I was a subject in someone’s experiment? Or how would I want my mother or sister to be treated? “With kind- ness, compassion and respect” is no doubt the quick response that most of us would ofer. And so it is that ethics in psychology, and particularly in behavior analysis, can be easily personalized and made tangible if we will just stop and think about what we are doing.

Students today have a great advantage over my generation. We had no code of ethics to guide us; we had one foot in the animal lab and one in the world of academia, and we were trying to f g- ure out how to transform powerful operant conditioning prin- ciples into efective treatments. It didn’t dawn on us at the time that ethics was involved at all, until, of course, we encountered Dr. Meyerson. Today, graduate students in behavior analysis have nearly 50 years of applied research and practice to fall back on (and to learn from and be held accountable for knowing). In addition, they have a wealth of resources on ethics, including

Preface to the T ird Edition • xi

case law and precedent-setting legal fndings. Finally, students today have a perfectly legitimate, thoroughly researched, and well-vetted ethics code specifcally designed for our f eld. T e current version of this document is the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. In teaching the graduate course “Professional and Ethical Issues in Behavior Analysis” for the past 15 years, I have learned a great deal about the ethical issues that appear to be unique to our feld and have been developing lectures and try- ing to discover ways of making ethics interesting, informative, and engaging for students who do not quite see the relevance or appreciate our cautious approach. One thing I’ve discovered is that although we now have an excellent ethics code, it is some- what dry and by itself, it does not convey the urgency and rele- vance that it should. Reading the Code is something like reading instructions for computer sofware: it’s clearly important, but you would rather just start using it.

Years ago, I was scheduled to give a half-day workshop at Penn State on ethics at the urging of Dr. Jerry Shook. In the process of preparing my materials, I wondered what kind of ethical ques- tions the participants might have. Dr. Shook arranged in advance to have each participant write and submit to us two questions or “scenarios” that they had confronted in the work setting. When I got the questions, I realized that reading the scenarios suddenly made the ethical issues jump right of the page. I began trying to look up the correct responses (according to what was then called the BACB Guidelines), and this turned out to be quite dif cult. Something was missing. An index of some sort would help, but none was available that I could fnd. Several all-nighters later, I had developed one. By the time Dr. Shook and I traveled to the confer- ence, I had a new approach to teaching ethics. It involved present- ing scenarios, having the students look up the relevant sections in the Guidelines for Responsible Conduct, and then having them present their proposed ethical actions. Tis approach teaches stu- dents that sometimes broad, ethical considerations always come down to some specifc code items. My experience in using this

xii • Preface to the T ird Edition

method over the past several years is that it brings the topic to life and generates excellent discussions of very relevant issues.

One troubling problem I encountered in teaching the “Ethics for Behavior Analysis” course was that specifc code items were ofen very much out of context or written in such stilted legal- ese that students did not understand why they were necessary or how they were relevant. I found myself ofen “translating” spe- cifc items into plain English. Tis process, along with providing some historic context and background about how and why certain items were important in our feld, seemed to increase the level of understanding for the students. Tis book, then, is the culmination of this attempt to present a

practical, student-centered approach to teaching ethics in behav- ior analysis. All of the cases are based on real examples but edited so as to avoid embarrassment or legal hassles, and the authors of the cases gave permission for their use (those in quotation marks are direct quotes from submitted cases). In addition, for each case, there is a commentary at the end of each chapter.

A fnal word about using this volume: this text is intended to be a practical handbook, and we specifcally attempted to avoid making this an academic or theoretical work. Many people teaching ethics courses will routinely have students read the US Constitution, view One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and research their state laws on limits of treatment, requirements for keep- ing documents, maintaining confdentiality, and other relevant issues. My experience is that it takes some creative digging to f nd relevant readings. Exposing students to a variety of sources, from Skinner and Sidman to Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) position statements, is useful in preparing them to tackle the world of ethical issues they will confront. We have tried to summarize what we consider the most important and pressing issues for new Board Certifed Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) in Chapter 15, “A Dozen Practical Tips for Ethical Conduct on Your First Job.” We hope you enjoy using this book and welcome input and dialogue on efective ways of teaching this most important topic.

Preface to the Fourth Edition

Much has happened in the world of behavior analysts in the last fve years. Te profession has nearly doubled in size,

and the demand for services has totally outstripped our ability to provide qualifed therapists, supervisors, and administrators. Economic pressures have come into play, as government agencies and insurance companies are tightening the purse strings, mak- ing it harder and harder to get reimbursement for services, while more and more families are desperate to receive the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) gold standard treat- ment for their loved one. Tere is a concern in many agencies that new behavior analysts are not being trained as thoroughly as they have been in the past in part due to the pressure to rush them out the door. Tis demand may have come at the cost of thorough hands-on training at practicum sites. Tere is an equal fear that new graduates are not receiving intensive enough training in the ethics of service delivery and even the basic principles and worldview of behavior analysis. Others are pointing out that trainees in ABA are not being properly schooled in cultural responsiveness and are

xiii

xiv • Preface to the Fourth Edition

not prepared to deal with diversity issues with their clients and colleagues. Tis new code deals extensively with these concerns plus additional questions of exploitative relationships, and a long- standing and pervasive problem of dual relationships. All these topics and more are presented in preview format in Chapter 2. As in the previous edition, we rely heavily on case examples based on questions submitted to the ABA Ethics Hotline to illustrate the ethical problems that behavior analysts can expect to encoun- ter on a weekly basis. It is hoped by studying actual practice and ethical dilemmas that new Board Certifed Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) will be better prepared to take on a complex world of behavior analysis service delivery.

HOW TO USE THIS FOURTH EDITION

Each year, I teach a semester-long graduate course called “Ethics and Professional Issues for Behavior Analysts.” I use Ethics for Behavior Analysts for the frst half of the semester, and for the second half I use 25 Essential Skills for the Successful Behavior Analyst (Bailey & Burch, 2022). By covering ethics frst, I f nd the students become sensitized to the new way of thinking about how they should conduct themselves; then I introduce them to all the other professional skills they will need to be successful in follow- ing through with the intent of the new ethics code.

We hope that this fourth edition of Ethics for Behavior Analysts will be useful as you learn about and teach others about ethics.

—Jon S. Bailey

Acknowledgments

To paraphrase an African proverb, “It takes a village to write a book.” I arrived at this conclusion about one month into gath-

ering notes, quotes, references, questions, case examples, and nug- gets of wisdom from many people that I know, have just met, and deeply respect. I would frst like to thank those members of the Ethics Hotline Advisory Committee who contributed directly to this work. Tomas Zane, Yulema Cruz, Mary Jane Weiss, Noor Syed, Devon Sundberg, Rosemary Condillac, and Michele Silcox always responded immediately to my pleas and gave good hon- est advice. Tom wrote the chapter on research, Yulema tracked down supervision ethics questions, and the rest wrote responses to those questions or reviewed draf pages and ofered their exper- tise graciously on every occasion that I made a request. I would also like to thank Zack Stevens, a former student who now has his own ABA agency in Tennessee and who provided sample docu- ments that could be used to illustrate specifc aspects of the new ethics code. Other former students who reviewed pages of writ- ing were Loren Eighme and Hope McNally. Teir experience in the feld as Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) and Board Certifed Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) added an extra dimension

xv

xvi • Acknowledgments

of authenticity to the book. Robert Wallander and Ken Wagner helped me sort through the OBM side of the ethics equation. Lauren Beaulieu educated me about cultural competence. Noor Syed and Nasiah Cirincione-Ulezi shared their expertise on cultural humility, which is far more complicated than it sounds. Elizabeth Zeppernick reviewed drafs of my commentaries on using testimonials from current and former clients in advertising and non-advertising campaigns. Two additional former students, Nikki Dickens and Kolton Sellers, gave me a better understanding of the ins and outs of social media. Tis book would not have been possible without all of you—T ank You.

Disclaimer

This book does not represent an ofcial statement by the Behavior Analyst Certifcation Board, the Association for

Behavior Analysis International, the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis, or any other behavior analysis organization of which the authors are members. Tis text cannot be relied on as the only interpretation of the meaning of the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts or the application of this code to specif c situ- ations. Each Board Certifed Behavior Analyst, supervisor, or rel- evant agency must interpret and apply the code as they believe proper, given all the circumstances. Te cases used in this book are based on the authors’ combined

75 years of experience in behavior analysis. In all cases, we have disguised the situations and used pseudonyms to protect the pri- vacy of the parties and organizations involved. At the end of some of the chapters, we ofer “Responses to Cases” as examples of real solutions to the ethical problems posed by the case. We do not hold these to be the only ethical solutions, but rather, each response is an example of one ethical solution. We encourage instructors who use the text to create alternate solutions based on their own

xvii

xviii • Disclaimer

experiences. Finally, we hope that the responses ofered here will stimulate discussion, debate, and thoughtful consideration about ways of handling what are by defnition very delicate matters with possible life-changing consequences.

Unit

One Background for Ethics in Behavior Analysis

1 How We Got Here

There is nothing more shocking and horrifc than the abuse and maltreatment of innocent people who are unable to pro-

tect and defend themselves. Atrocious incidents of physical and emotional abuse toward animals, children, women, and elderly people occur every single day in our culture, and they are of en reduced to a few lines in the local news of the daily paper.

Individuals with developmental disabilities can also be the victims of abuse. Te reprehensible mistreatment of children and adults with disabilities is especially disturbing when the abuses come at the hands of your chosen profession. But this is exactly what happened in Florida in the early 1970s. T ese abuses

Aversive consequences changed the course of his- tory for behavior analysis and were used with abandon the treatment of people with in informal reactions to disabilities. self-injurious, destructive,

Te story of the evolu- and inappropriate

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