Rewards and Challenges Experienced by Behavior Interventionists Working in Homes of Children with ASD

Background: Behavior interventionists (BIs) often provide 1:1 early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) to young children with autism in their homes. With the exception of a report by Elfert and Mirenda (2006), little published research exists on the experiences of this emerging professional group.

Objectives: The qualitative study explored the perspectives of BIs with regard to occupational stressors and rewards.

Methods: As part of a larger study, 65 BIs from two Canadian provinces were asked to describe the most and least rewarding aspects of their jobs, using open-ended questions. A content analysis was conducted to sort and code the responses into categories that emerged from the data. Inter-rater reliability ranged from 95%-99%.

Results: BIs reported that the most challenging aspects of their jobs were related to workplace (38%), family (27%), team (22%) and child variables (13%). In particular, BIs identified stressors such as feeling responsible for children's progress; working in families' private living spaces; experiencing conflicts, inconsistences, and lack of support from families and team members; and dealing with child problem behavior as their greatest challenges. The most rewarding job aspects were related to child (55%), family (17%), team (11%), workplace (9%) and other variables (8%). In particular, positive job aspects included seeing children make progress, helping families, and working as part of well-functioning teams.

Conclusions: These descriptive data provide important information to service agencies providing EIBI in family homes. Typically, BIs work alone and intensively with children with autism for low wages, and job turnover is often high. Service providers need to be aware of the challenges BIs face so that they can provide appropriate supports and training.