Behavioral interventions to decrease problem behavior often involve the use of single-case experimental designs in which an individual’s responding during a treatment condition is compared to responding during a control or baseline condition. It is possible that during the initial introduction of treatment, problem behavior continues to occur at baseline rates before behavior reduction is observed; this phenomenon is called a transition state. Evaluated the prevalence of transition states in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and found that they occurred within 5.3% of the published literature. The current study replicated and extended Brogan et al. by evaluating the prevalence of transition states in unpublished clinical data of patients admitted to an inpatient hospital for the treatment of severe problem behavior. Using a retrospective consecutive-controlled case series, transition states were observed in 3% of cases for an average duration of 4.8 sessions. We discuss factors that may affect transitional behavior between phases and relevant implications for practice and research.

减少问题行为的行为干预通常涉及使用单例实验设计，其中将个体在治疗条件下的反应与控制或基线条件下的反应进行比较。有可能在最初引入治疗期间，在观察到行为减少之前问题行为继续以基线率发生；这种现象称为过渡态。评估应用行为分析杂志中过渡状态的普遍性并发现它们出现在已发表文献的 5.3% 以内。目前的研究复制并扩展了 Brogan 等人。通过评估入院治疗严重问题行为的患者未发表的临床数据中过渡状态的普遍性。使用回顾性连续对照病例系列，在 3% 的病例中观察到过渡状态，平均持续时间为 4.8 次。我们讨论了可能影响阶段之间过渡行为的因素以及对实践和研究的相关影响。