Richard J. Cowan

The Effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: Results of a 4-Year Investigation

Conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) is a structured indirect form of service delivery in which parents, teachers, and other support staff are joined to work together to address the academic, social, or behavioral needs of an individual for whom all parties bear some responsibility. In this article, outcome data from 4 years of federally funded projects in the area of CBC are presented. Thirty graduate students were trained in CBC and were responsible for providing consultation services to parents and teachers of students with disabilities or at risk for academic failure. Consultation clients included 52 students with disabilities such as behavior disorders, attention-defi cit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and learning disabilities. The primary research objective concerned assessing the effi cacy of CBC across home and school settings. Secondarily, a prediction model was investigated based on client age, case complexity, and severity of symptoms. Perception of effectiveness, process acceptability, and consultee satisfaction with consultants was also investigated. Meaningful effect sizes were yielded across home and school settings. A model fi tting client age and symptom severity was found to predict school effect size relatively well. Consultees’ perceptions of effectiveness, acceptability of CBC, and satisfaction with consultants were also favorable. Implications of these fi ndings and directions for future research are explored.