Objetivo Especifico N° 03

We know the various approaches to interviewing, including the use of structured diagnostic interviews. In contrast to many forms of interviewing in clinical psychology, behavioral interviewing is used to obtain information that will be helpful in formulating a functional analysis of behavior (Haynes & O'Brien, 2000). That is behavioral interviews focus on describing and .understanding the relationships among ante- cedents, behaviors, and consequences. Behavioral interviews tend to be more directive than other.nonbehavioral interviews, allowing the interviewer to obtain detailed descriptions of the problem behaviors and of the patient's current environment. Kratochwill (1985) suggests that behavioral interviews follow a four-step problem-solving format.

1. Problem identification, in which a specific problem is identified and explored and procedures are selected to measure target behaviors

2. Problem analysis, conducted by assessing the client's resources and the contexts in which the behaviors are likely to occur

3. Assessment planning, in which the clinician and client establish an assessment plan to be implemented, including ongoing procedures to collect data relevant to assessment and intervention 4. Treatment evaluation, in which strategies are outlined to assess the success of treatment,

including pre- and post assessment procedures.

Thus, behavioral: interviewing focuses not only on obtaining information within the interview session, but also Oil making plans to obtain information on behavior outside the interview, in the environment in which the behavior naturally occurs.

One important reason that behavioral interviews are more directive than most other kinds of interviews is that clients will often describe their difficulties in trait terms. That is, they will speak of being "anxious" or "depressed" or "angry" The behavioral clinician must then work with the client to translate these broad terms into more specific and observable behaviors. For example, "being anxious" may mean breathing rapidly, sweating profusely, experiencing an increase in heart rate, having cognitions about danger and threat, and avoiding- specific types of situations. In the following example, the interviewer helps quantify a client's difficulties in behavioral terms:

Interviewer: It sounds like you have been having difficulty in a number of areas, but your conflicts with your roommate are the most trouble right now.

Interviewer: I'd like to ask some more questions about what happens when you are the most bothered about it. Can you pick a particular disagreement and tell me how you felt at the time?

Client: He really pissed me off when I came in last night and wanted to go to sleep. He wouldn't turn the TV off, and I couldn't sleep with the light and the noise.

Interviewer: How angry were you? Can you rate it from I to 10, with 10 being the most angry you've ever been?

Client: I guess about a 6. What does that matter?

Interviewer: Well, I'm wondering if you also felt anything else, like tension, nervousness, anxiety, apprehension. If so, how much?

Client: I was tense, too. About a 6, 1 guess. We don't really talk much except about the V and superficial things about school.

Interviewer: When do you feel the most angry, and also the most tense? For example. When you were walking into the room. Before? After he didn't turn down the TV?

Client: I was getting tense coming into the room, thinking what a drag this roommate situation was, and then when he kept watching TV, I was so angry I couldn't sleep. (Adapted from Sarwer & Sayers, 1998, p. 70)

As this example makes clear, the client and therapist will work together to describe and understand the problem behaviors. Where and when they occur, and the impact they have on the client's relationships. The information obtained in a behavioral interview should be helpful to the clinician both in generating hypotheses about what specific behaviors or contextual factors to target in an intervention and in developing further plans for additional behavioral assessment procedures, such as direct observation or self monitoring.

An excellent example of behavioral interviewing is found in the work of psychologist Russell Barkley and his colleagues, who have developed extensive interview protocols for use in the behavioral assessment of attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. One portion of the interview generates information on the nature of specific parent-child interactions that are related to the defiant and oppositional child behaviors often associated with ADHD. The interviewer reviews a series of situations that are frequent sources of problems between children and parents and solicit detailed information about those situations that are particularly problematic, For example, parents may report that their child has temper tantrums, during which the child cries, whines, screams, hits, and kicks. A behavioral interview will be used as a first step in determining precisely what these behaviors look like when they occur, in which situations the behaviors occur (e.g., while the parent is on the telephone, in public places, at bedtime), and in which situations they do not occur (e.g., when the child is playing alone, playing with other children, at mealtimes). Additional information is then sought regarding the sequence of events, including the behaviors of the parents and the child that unfold during a tantrum. This type of situationally focused interview provides a detailed picture about how the parent perceives the antecedents and consequences that surround the child's problematic behaviors.

In sum, behavioral interviewing is the first step in conducting a comprehensive behavioral assessment of a problem behavior and the contextual variables that may be controlling the behavior. A behavioral interview is more direct than are unstructured clinical interviews and focuses explicitly on the occurrence (or nonoccurrence) of specific behaviors. It is important to point out that, despite the relatively narrow focus of the behavioral interview, we know little about its reliability and validity. In fact, there is evidence indicating that behavioral interviews are only moderately reliable.