Reading Groups: A Practical Means of Enhancing Professional Knowledge Among Human Service Practitioners
Open accessAbstract
Quality human service provision is heavily dependent on practitioners maintaining up-to-date professional knowledge. We evaluated a monthly reading group process as a practical means of enhancing professional knowledge among educators in a program for adults with severe disabilities. The reading group process was designed to minimize disruptions to participants' direct contact time with students and to promote participant acceptance of the process. The process followed a structured format involving study questions and systematic prompting to ensure active participation. Comparison of pre- and post-quiz responses to short-answer and multiple-choice questions showed consistent improvement in correct answers following each of four reading group meetings. Survey responses indicated all participants reported the process to be highly acceptable. Results are discussed regarding guidelines for behavior analysts interested in enhancing professional knowledge of other practitioners with whom they work, with a focus on obtaining administrative approval for reading group activities, structuring the activities to promote active participation, and using strategies to enhance participant acceptance.
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Research in this area has received some criticism due to its heavy reliance on acceptability surveys.
“In considering reports of staff acceptance of BST-based training programs, it should also be noted that research in this area has received some criticism due to its heavy reliance on acceptability surveys (Parsons & Reid, 2012).”
From Evidence-Based Staff Training: A Guide for Practitioners (2012) · cites this paper as Parsons & Reid, 2012
The Discussion (page not specified) says surveys are commonly used to assess acceptability in behavior analysis research but cautions that they are not always valid indicators of participant acceptance. This supports the criticism of reliance on surveys, but the paper discusses reading groups and does not establish that BST-based training research in particular relies heavily on them. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIt is often easier to schedule training time in short sessions without causing disruptions to consumer services compared to traditional half-day or day-long blocks of time.
“Often it is easier to schedule training time in short sessions without causing disruptions to consumer services (e.g., during teacher planning time, immediately following consumer departure for the day) compared to traditional half-day or day-long blocks of time (Parsons & Reid, 2012).”
From Evidence-Based Staff Training: A Guide for Practitioners (2012) · cites this paper as Parsons & Reid, 2012
The paper’s Reading group meetings section (page unavailable) says one-hour meetings were scheduled during planning time or on teacher workdays to avoid major disruptions to work with students. The Discussion compares the time required with traditional professional-development activities, but the paper does not establish that short sessions are generally easier to schedule than half-day or day-long blocks. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
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Evidence-Based Staff Training: A Guide for Practitioners
Parsons, M. B., Rollyson, J. H., & Reid, D. H. (2012) · Behavior Analysis in Practice · doi:10.1007/bf03391819 · Cited by 461 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Parsons, M. B., & Reid, D. H.
- Affiliations
- J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Reid, Dennis H.
- ORCID
- Reid, Dennis H.
- Venue
- Behavior Analysis in Practice
- Published
- 2011-12
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 53-60
- ISSN
- 1998-1929 (ISSN-L)
- 2196-8934
- PMC
- PMC3357101
- OpenAlex
- W58512562
- Semantic Scholar
- 19ee2881642e64ae5d322032cc771b3524998957
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Behavior Analysis in Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation
- Social Sciences › Education › Adult and Continuing Education Topics
- Keywords
- book clubs, professional knowledge, behavior analysts, adult education, severe disabilities, professional development, participant acceptance, active participation, continuing education
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