Sanetti, Lisa M; Charbonneau, Sarah; Cochrane, Wendy S; Kulcyk, Molly C
description
Both student outcomes and treatment fidelity data are necessary to draw
valid conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Reviews of the
intervention outcome literature in related fields, and prior reviews of the
school psychology literature, suggest that many researchers failed to
report treatment fidelity data. The purpose of this study was to replicate
and extend previous reviews of treatment fidelity in four school
psychology journals between 2009-2016. Results indicate that a plurality
of studies reviewed operationally defined some, but not all
intervention(s). Further, the majority of studies (72.8%) include a
quantitative treatment fidelity data, a 35% increase from the Sanetti et
al. (2011) review of these same journals. Results also indicate many
studies include data on multiple dimensions of fidelity. Of the multiple
dimensions, adherence is (a) the most commonly reported dimension,
(b) most often reported using a single index, (c) assessed using in-vivo
observation, and (d) high in a majority of studies. Further, results
indicate some study and design characteristics are associated with the
presence of operational definitions and treatment fidelity data.
