Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Stephanie Peterson, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Scott Gaynor, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Amy Naugle, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Cody Morris, Ph.D.

Keywords

Assent, Autism, behavior analysis, intellectual disability

Abstract

Assent can be defined as an individual’s affirmative agreement to participate and should be obtained by those who cannot consent (i.e., children and adults deemed as “incapable”) when conducting research or providing services. Federal policies recommend considering age, maturity, and psychological state to determine if a participant can assent. Beyond these considerations, there is little guidance. However, practitioners and researchers still have an ethical obligation to obtain assent. Morris and colleagues (2021) conducted a literature review of assent procedures documented within behavior-analytic journals and found few studies. Of the procedures identified, many would likely be difficult to implement with participants with mild to moderate intellectual disability who display limited communication skills. Research of skills needed to provide assent is necessary. Discrimination of various treatments can be conceptualized as a prerequisite skill to providing assent.

This study evaluated procedures required to evoke correct discrimination of available treatments for three adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities as a prerequisite to providing assent. The procedures included providing a vocal-verbal description of treatments, a model demonstration, and exposure to treatments. One participant demonstrated consistent discrimination with vocal-verbal descriptions, another demonstrated inconsistent discrimination with modeling, and another was never able to correctly identify treatments. For the latter two participants, error correction procedures were implemented. Both were then better able to discriminate but were inconsistent. These results illustrate the complexities of obtaining assent for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

Download

Share

COinS