Consider the following scenario:
You are a female behavior analyst who is working with a client and his family on addressing daily living skills that are important for the client’s natural environment. Because the mother of the client is the primary caregiver for the client, and the person who is present when the daily living skills must be performed, you develop a plan that involves training her to carry out the treatment. The family refuses to sign the plan, however, because they explain that in their culture everything must work through the male head of the household (i.e., the dad). You agree to train the dad on the skills along with the mom, but then they say that it is culturally unacceptable for a female to teach a man. Therefore, you cannot train the dad on how to implement the treatment.
At this point, you decide to recruit a male colleague to assist you with the training procedures at the beginning of the service provision. Later, however, when you begin monitoring the treatment effectiveness, you must provide feedback and additional training to both parents on treatment implementation issues. The dad refuses to participate because he will not accept training from you, and therefore the mom cannot participate either without the dad being present.
You realize that you cannot expect your male colleague to accompany you on every home visit that requires parent feedback, so you have to make a decision on whether you can continue services or not.
Answer the following questions:
- What do you think you should do and why? Provide a solid justification for your answer, citing the proper guideline in the Ethics Code.
- If you decide to discontinue services, explain in detail how you would do this (i.e., what you would document, etc.). Cite the relevant information in the Ethics Code.
- Would you recommend transitioning services to another behavior analyst? If not, explain why not. If so, explain how you should do this based on the guidelines of the Ethics Code.