Making physical activity fun and accessible to adults with intellectual disabilities: A pilot study of a gamification intervention.

BACKGROUND: Only about 9% of individuals with intellectual disabilities reach the government's physical activity (PA) recommendations. Combining gamification and technology seems particularly promising in overcoming personal and environmental barriers to PA participation. METHOD: Eighteen adults with varying levels of intellectual disabilities completed a pilot study to assess the initial effects of a cycling gamification intervention on levels of PA, fitness, psychosocial outcomes, and challenging behaviours. The study comprised three designs: pre-post single group, AB single-case, and qualitative. Social validity, implementation barriers and facilitators were also explored. RESULTS: Nearly all 18 participants cycled daily. Time and distance cycled daily increase during the intervention while a decrease in stereotyped behaviours was observed. Participants and staff found the intervention enjoyable and socially valid. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the multiple-design study suggest that gamification interventions may be a suitable, enjoyable, and promising way to contribute to PA participation of adults with intellectual disabilities.

[Physical activity: What is its role in the training and practice of psychoeducators in Quebec?] / L'activité physique : quelle est sa place dans la formation et la pratique des psychoéducateurs au Québec ?

The provision of services that improve the functioning, social participation and quality of life of individuals with behavioral or mental health problems is a common denominator amongst psychosocial professionals in Quebec, including social workers, psychologists and psychoeducators. One intervention that has gained empirical support as an intervention tool is physical activity. In fact, numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of physical activity for many populations with whom psychosocial professionals work. Objectives Thus, the primary objective of this study was to understand the role physical activity plays in psychosocial intervention, specifically in the field of psychoeducation. The specific objectives of this study are (1) to assess how physical activity spans out in the academic and continuing education of psychoeducators, (2) establish the use of physical activity, and (3) to explore whether certain variables influence the use of physical activity by psychoeducators. Method A total of 150 psychoeducators across Quebec (years of experience: M = 11.2; SD = 9.1) completed an online survey. Descriptive statistics, conditional probability, chi-square, analyses, and logistic regression were performed. Results The results suggest that physical activity is an intervention tool used by psychoeducators, with just over 75% of professionals reporting having used physical activity in their practice. However, very few psychoeducators have received academic or continuing education pertaining to this intervention tool. The use of physical activity was not found to differ across clienteles with whom psychoeducators worked, but was positively and significantly predicted by the number of years of experience of the professionals. Conclusion Considering the numerous benefits associated with physical activity, the results of the present study emphasize the need to reflect on physical activity in psychosocial intervention and on the training offered to professionals in relation to the use of this tool. Taken together, the results of the scientific literature and our study highlight that physical activity can be used as an intervention tool by psychosocial professionals. However, in order to avoid iatrogenic outcomes resulting from inappropriate use of physical activity, further research is needed to ensure that professionals have the necessary training and supervision for safe and effective implementation.

[Évaluation des propriétés psychométriques de l'échelle abrégée de Kessler (K6) parmi les adolescents québécois]. / Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) among Quebec Adolescents.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the unidimensional structure and psychometric qualities of the short version of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) in adolescents living in Quebec. Method Data analyzed were obtained from the 2013-2014 Canadian Community Health Survey and included data from 1618 adolescents. The internal structure of the K6 and invariance by gender and age were tested using confirmatory factor analyses. Convergent and divergent validity of the K6 were also assessed. Finally, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine the predictive power of the K6 in predicting the presence of a major depressive episode. Results The analyses suggest the presence of a unidimensional structure in the Quebec adolescent sample, as well as in the studied subgroups. The invariance of the measure is observed for the age subgroups but cannot be established with certainty for the gender analyses. The results support the convergent and divergent validity of the K6 with adolescents, whereas the alpha and omega values of the K6 indicate that its internal consistency ranges from questionable to acceptable for all respondents and subgroups. The results of the ROC curves reveal that the 4/5 cut-off point best predicts the presence of a major depressive episode among all participants and subgroups. Conclusion Although the K6 has several advantages, the internal consistency and invariance by gender results warrant caution regarding its use to identify the level of psychological distress of Quebec adolescents.

Effects of an Interactive Web Training to Support Parents in Reducing Challenging Behaviors in Children with Autism.

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in challenging behaviors, which may interfere with their daily functioning, development, and well-being. To address this issue, we conducted a four-week randomized waitlist control trial to examine the effects of a fully self-guided interactive web training (IWT) on (a) child engagement in challenging behaviors and (b) parental intervention. After 4 weeks, parents in the treatment group reported lower levels of challenging behaviors in their children and more frequent use of behavioral interventions than those in the waitlist groups. Furthermore, within-group analyses suggest that these changes persisted up to 12 weeks following completion of the IWT. Our results highlight the potential utility of web training, but our high attrition rate and potential side effects prevent us from recommending the training as a standalone treatment.

Tutorial: Applying Machine Learning in Behavioral Research.

Machine-learning algorithms hold promise for revolutionizing how educators and clinicians make decisions. However, researchers in behavior analysis have been slow to adopt this methodology to further develop their understanding of human behavior and improve the application of the science to problems of applied significance. One potential explanation for the scarcity of research is that machine learning is not typically taught as part of training programs in behavior analysis. This tutorial aims to address this barrier by promoting increased research using machine learning in behavior analysis. We present how to apply the random forest, support vector machine, stochastic gradient descent, and k-nearest neighbors algorithms on a small dataset to better identify parents of children with autism who would benefit from a behavior analytic interactive web training. These step-by-step applications should allow researchers to implement machine-learning algorithms with novel research questions and datasets.

How Many Tiers Do We Need? Type I Errors and Power in Multiple Baseline Designs.

Design quality guidelines typically recommend that multiple baseline designs include at least three demonstrations of effects. Despite its widespread adoption, this recommendation does not appear grounded in empirical evidence. The main purpose of our study was to address this issue by assessing Type I error rate and power in multiple baseline designs. First, we generated 10,000 multiple baseline graphs, applied the dual-criteria method to each tier, and computed Type I error rate and power for different number of tiers showing a clear change. Second, two raters categorized the tiers for 300 multiple baseline graphs to replicate our analyses using visual inspection. When multiple baseline designs had at least three tiers and two or more of these tiers showed a clear change, the Type I error rate remained adequate (< .05) while power also reached acceptable levels (> .80). In contrast, requiring all tiers to show a clear change resulted in overly stringent conclusions (i.e., unacceptably low power). Therefore, our results suggest that researchers and practitioners should carefully consider limitations in power when requiring all tiers of a multiple baseline design to show a clear change in their analyses.

Using Single-Case Designs in Practical Settings: Is Within-Subject Replication Always Necessary?

Behavior analysts have widely adopted and embraced within-subject replication through the use of reversal and multielement designs. However, the withdrawal of treatment, which is central to these designs, may not be desirable, feasible, or even ethical in practical settings. To examine this issue, we extracted 501 ABAB graphs from theses and dissertations to examine to what extent we would have reached correct or incorrect conclusions if we had based our analysis on the initial AB component only. In our first experiment, we examined the proportion of datasets for which the results of the first AB component matched the results of the subsequent phase reversals. In our second experiment, we calculated three effect size estimates for the same datasets to examine whether these measures could predict the relevance of conducting a within-subject replication. Our analyses indicated that the initial effects were successfully replicated at least once in approximately 85% of the cases and that effect size may predict the probability of within-subject replication. Overall, our results support the rather controversial proposition that it may be possible to set threshold values of effect size above which conducting a replication could be considered unnecessary. That said, more research is needed to confirm and examine the generalizability of these results prior to recommending changes in practice.