Clinical

By Emily Johnson

ABAI’s Clinical Special Interest Group (SIG) was originally organized in 1979. Active membership has been consistently maintained since. The Clinical Special Interest Group continues to serve as home to those who have an interest in the clinical application of behavior analysis. Clinical Behavior Analysis (CBA) was once defined as the application of radical behaviorism (Skinner 1953, 1974) to answer the most basic questions about outpatient adult behavior therapy (or any other type of psychotherapy) (Kohlenberg, Tsai, & Dougher, 1993). This application of behavioral theory has continued to expand to other areas of clinical services through the years. Clinical behavior analysts now contribute to research and treatment of mainstream clinical populations and problems, working in a variety of research and applied settings.

At the current time the Clinical Special Interest Group does not require dues. We do accept donations for student-focused support initiatives. For the 2020–21 SIG year, we have a membership of 175 members. While we are excited to have this number in our membership, we continue to be interested in growing in both clinician, research, and student membership.

The Clinical Special Interest Group produces an annual newsletter directed to highlighting members’ contributions to the ABAI convention and other areas of behavior analysis.

At the 2021 convention, the Clinical Special Interest Group presented information related to the SIG at the ABAI Expo and met for an annual business meeting to work towards the expansion of SIG led projects.

We are also striving to collect information from Clinical Behavior Analysis academic training programs and research labs so that we can promote workshops, conference events, and ongoing activities of interest to our membership.

The Clinical Special Interest Group is also working to develop opportunities to recognize and support students and researchers focused on clinical interventions.

Finally, we maintain a listing of university-affiliated training opportunities in the area of Clinical Behavior Analysis that is openly available upon request or membership.