Skill Evaluations of Nurse-Training in Behaviour Therapy

This paper describes five measures of behavioural skill that apply to the “generalist” level of therapy sophistication. This level was trained in a group of 65 qualified psychiatric nurses working in the rehabilitation sector of a large N.H.S. hospital. Three of the measures were administered before and after a 5 day in-service training course, followed by two measures of proficiency in using behaviour therapy on the ward. The results indicated that reliable and valid measurements could be made in this crucial domain. Also, a discriminant analysis showed that one test, a video-presented functional analysis task, accounted for most of the variance and predicted utilisation. It is therefore possible to use this brief assessment device to dependably gauge a vital area of behavioural skill.