Issues of Social Validation in Research on Serving Individuals with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Social validation of interventions has substantial appeal, and researchers investigating treatments in behavioral disorders have used diverse methods for assessing it, though proportionally few studies report social validity data. Applications of social validation to problems in behavioral disorders raise difficulties with the trustworthiness of data underlying validation efforts and the use of the information derived from assessments. Researchers and practitioners of behavioral or emotional disorders should approach social validation cautiously, avoiding indiscriminate application of its fundamentally sound principles.