Know Your ABCs: Behavioral Assessment Basics

Behavioral assessment takes the mental status exam a step further by using direct observation to formally assess an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and overt behaviors in specific situations or contexts. This information is used to explain the maintenance of present problems in the here and now. Observations may occur in the therapy context, in the home, schools, the workplace, or in other real life situations.

The purpose of behavioral assessment is to identify target behaviors (problematic behaviors) and environmental events that may become targets of therapeutic intervention. This is accomplished via a functional analysis of antecedents, behaviors, and consequences (i.e., the ABCs of observation) following the behavior.

Observational assessment is usually focused on the here and now. Therefore, the clinician's attention is usually directed to the immediate behavior, its antecedents (what happened just before the behavior), and its consequences (what happened afterward) (Hersen 2006)

Behavioral observation may be either formal or informal. In formal observation, the observation procedures are usually structured and systematic, and involve behavior rating scales or checklists (such as the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale) and clear operational definitions of target behaviors. Informal observation is less standardized and systematic.

People may also be asked to observe their own behavior using a technique called self-monitoring or self-observation (e.g., recording the number of cigarettes smoked per day). Self-monitoring may be formal (e.g., using scales, coding sheets, checklists) or informal (e.g., recording overall mood each day).

Reactivity can distort observational data, and refers to changes in behavior as a result of knowing that one is being observed. Anytime you observe how people behave, the mere fact of your presence may cause them to change their behavior (Hersen 2006) Reactivity can occur while being observed by others or when self-monitoring. Behaviors tend to shift in the desired direction with reactivity.