Swedish ABA

By Dag Stromberg
The Swedish Association for Behavior Analysis (SWABA) had 221 members at the end of 2022, an 8% increase since 2021. The chapter continued its activity on social media; at the end of 2022, 1628 people were following SWABA on Facebook, a 16% increase since 2021. The association also has accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, all with an increasing number of followers.

SWABA’s fall meeting place took place October 1st, 2022, in Stockholm, as a hybrid event. We enjoyed presentations by Hampus Bejnö on the Autism Program Rating Scale, by Martin Lardén on reducing criminal recidivism, and by Sigridur Soffia Sigurjonsdottir (Iceland) on feedback. Also, Tiina Holmberg Bergman and Ola Stadig presented a newly published anthology for parents of school-aged children with autism.

The annual meeting took place March 25th, 2023, in Stockholm, again a hybrid event. The day included a presentation on NeuroACT by Johan Pahnke, and another one about a new book on supervision of Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions, by Tobias Rasmussen and Oscar Strömberg. There was also a discussion led by Lise Roll-Pettersson and Elin Mellgren, concerning the impacts of the recent (2022) national guidelines for Autism and ADHD by the National Board of Health and Welfare, currently recommending EIBI for children with autism. Furthermore, the recipient of the fourth annual “SWABA-prize” was announced: as a recognition of his important work in disseminating behavior analysis in Sweden, in the context of Organizational Behavior Management, the prize was awarded to Rolf Olofsson.

During the year, SWABA’s president has participated in a network that meets twice per year, connecting six different Swedish associations for behavior analysis, contextual behavior science, and/or various types of behavior therapy, as well as a newly started Swedish-speaking behavior therapy association in Finland.

SWABA is also involved in a collaboration between representatives from the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), discussing quality assurance of behavior analysis within a Nordic context.

SWABA was represented at the 2023 ABAI Annual Convention in Denver. As usual, a poster was presented at the ABAI Expo. In addition, in 2022, the SWABA board was in contact with the ABAI Executive Council to clarify our standpoint against the use of contingent electric skin shock.

Our association supports the formation of special interest groups, providing information about each group on the website. This year the Animals SIG and the Certified Behavior Analysts SIG had meetings, while some of the other groups had contacts through social media.

SWABA would like to encourage anyone who plans to visit Sweden or other countries in Scandinavia to contact the board (info@swaba.se), to explore the possibility of meeting and/or lecturing. SWABA holds its annual meeting during the first quarter of each year and a fall meeting/conference in September or October. Our fall meeting of 2023 will take place in October, in Stockholm. Please visit the SWABA website for updates concerning the program.