Teachers' Intervention Preferences Related to Explanations for Behavior Problems, Severity of the Problem, and Teacher Experience

* Choosing interventions for behavior problems of students is a complex issue that has become increasingly important as the frequency of school-based behavior problems rises. Researchers have concluded that selection of an intervention by a teacher who is confronted with a difficult student is a result of an interaction of factors (Elliott, 1988; Reimers, Wacker, & Koeppl, 1987). Some of the determinants of intervention choice include amount of time required for the intervention (Martens, Witt, Elliott, & Darveaux, 1985; Witt, Elliott, & Martens, 1984; Witt & Martens, 1983; Witt, Martens, & Elliott, 1984), the severity of the problem (Elliott, Witt, Galvin, & Peterson, 1984; Frentz & Kelly, 1986; Witt & Martens, 1983), potential side effects of the intervention (Kazdin, 1981), teacher understanding of the intervention (Johnson & Pugach, 1990; Tingstrom, 1989; Witt, 1986), experience of the teacher (Witt, Moe, Gutkin, & Andrews, 1984; Witt & Robbins, 1985), and type of intervention (e.g., response building versus reducing) (Elliott et al., 1984; Hall & Wahrman, 1988; Kazdin, 1980; Witt & Martens, 1983). Additionally, teacher beliefs, attitudes, and behavior play a part in determining which intervention teachers choose (Clark & Peterson, 1986; Combs, 1982; Rose & Medway, 1981). For example, Agne, Greenwood, and Miller (1994) compared teachers-of-the-year with inservice teachers and found that the teachersof-the-year consistently were more humanistic in their acceptance and trust of children and less likely to emphasize overt control strategies with students who misbehave. Most studies on teacher intervention choices, however, have examined the acceptability of the interventions and have used ratings of teacher intervention preference (versus direct observation of teacher). Hall and Wahrman (1988) and Johnson and Pugach (1990) examined the self-reported use of teacher interventions and found a positive correlation between acceptability of interventions and self-reported use of that behavioral intervention. Identification and validation of the connection between acceptability and use, and the factors that affect such a relationship, are important for practitioners and others who directly or indirectly work with children and youth. In a review of research examining teacher intervention preferences, Reimers et al. (1987) indicated that identifying the various factors involved in the acceptability and use of interventions should help educators and clinicians to choose more effective treatments. The relationship between a behavior problem and subsequent strategy selection is not straightforward; therefore, it is important to identify factors that may affect the selection of behavior management strategies. Experience of the teacher and severity of the problem have been researched in the past; however, the amount of explanation and/or understanding that a teacher had about the reasons a student misbehaved and/or the functions of the inappropriate behavior were not examined. Clinical experience suggests that teachers often want to know why a student misbehaved. When a plausible explanation is offered, they often chose positively oriented interventions (i.e., strategies that increase appropriate behaviors) to correct the problem. This observation is supported in part by Alderman and Gimpel (1996) who found that teachers rated the need for more information about students as high. Similarly, Johnson and Pugach (1990) reported that collecting information about a student's behavior problem from other teachers was the strategy ranked highest for use and reasonability. Johnson and Pugach (1990), however, also found that although teachers want information about students, they rate observation of students outside the classroom, examination of the student's health, and gathering family information as low in terms of use. The overall purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the severity of behavior, the experience of the teacher, and the amount of information given about a student with behavior problems on teachers' choice of behavioral interventions. …