From innovation to standard practice: developing and disseminating behavioral procedures

This paper proposes a three-stage continuum for discussing the development and dissemination of behavioral technology. At the level of behavioral techniques, researchers need only establish a functional relationship between technologically defined intervention procedures and socially significant target behaviors. Dissemination is conducted for informational purposes only, and the purposes and details surrounding subsequent use of the technique are left to the discretion of the user. At the level of behavioral demonstration, a collection of socially acceptable intervention procedures is refined and standardized and must be shown to produce behavior changes across a number of subjects. Here dissemination is conducted, in large part, to generate support for provision of services. At the level of behavioral models, procedural descriptions must be useroriented. Additionally, model effects must be obtainable by agents not associated with their development and must compare favorably with other treatment or service alternatives. The purpose of dissemination at this level is to obtain adoptions and replications of the model. Details of development and dissemination of behavioral technology at each of these three levels are discussed.