Exploring Teachers’ Intentions to Use Behavioral Classroom Interventions

ABSTRACT

Multi-tiered systems of behavioral support offer teachers tools to implement positive, antecedent- or consequence-based interventions for all students (i.e. Tier 1), and for those who need additional support (i.e. Tier 2), such as students with ADHD. Because these interventions may be challenging to use, targeted, theory-driven implementation strategies may assist teachers in implementing them with fidelity. This exploratory study examined teachers’ intended and self-reported use of specific Tier 1 and Tier 2 behavioral classroom interventions. Sixty-five K-8 teachers from five urban public schools completed an online survey about their intentions to use and self-reported use of four Tier 1 and Tier 2 behavioral classroom interventions. Teachers’ intentions varied by intervention, with the weakest intentions for using a daily behavior report (Tier 2) and weaker intentions for using high rates of specific praise than for other Tier 1 interventions. Teacher’s self-reported use was significantly lower than intended use for Tier 1 interventions, but not Tier 2 interventions. Results were generally similar to whether the referent group was students with ADHD symptoms or the entire class. These results suggest specific factors to target to support teachers’ use of behavioral classroom interventions.

Disclosure statement

Steven Rufe receives consulting fees from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Drexel University. All other authors report no potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under Grant [K23MH122577].