Effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation on Student-Teacher Interactions

Authors

Sonya A. Bhatia, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Susan M. Sheridan

Date of this Version

5-2019

Document Type

Article

Citation

Bhatia, S. A. (2019). Effects of conjoint behavioral consultation on student-teacher interactions (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska.

Comments

A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Major: Psychological Studies in Education, Under the Supervision of Professor Susan M. Sheridan. Lincoln, Nebraska: May, 2019

Copyright 2019 Sonya A. Bhatia

Abstract

Young children with disruptive classroom behaviors are at-risk for negative interactions with their teachers (Nelson & Roberts, 2000), which put children at increased risk for long-term negative social, academic, and behavioral outcomes (Sutherland & Oswald, 2005). Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is an evidence-based family-school partnership intervention focused on strengthening relationships and promoting continuity and consistency between children’s key environments (Sheridan & Kratochwill, 2008). The efficacy of CBC on child outcomes and parent-teacher relationships has been demonstrated (Sheridan et al., 2017); however, no research has determined whether CBC improves student-teacher interactions.

This study examined CBC’s effect on student-teacher interactions using a new interaction observation measure (the Student-Teacher Interaction Measure; STIM). This study includes video observations of 71 rural children with significant behavior problems (42 treatment, 29 control) and 41 teachers (22 treatment, 19 control). Eight video observations were collected per child participant (i.e., three baseline videos and five intervention videos for children in the CBC condition). Multilevel modeling was used to examine CBC’s effect on the rate of positive, negative, and unreciprocated student-teacher interactions within each time point accounting for nesting within students. Results from the study indicated that there was no main effect of CBC on positive, negative, or unreciprocated interactions at Time 2. Secondary findings, study limitations, and directions for future research are presented.

Advisor: Susan M. Sheridan