Behavior Relapse Prevention and Mitigation: What to do when behavior comes back! with Sarah Bloom

A sound approach to assessment and treatment of challenging behavior involves understanding the function of the target behavior and making environmental modifications to encourage the development of more desirable responses, reduce the occurrence of challenging behavior, or both. Successful interventions are then generalized across contexts and maintenance of effects is monitored. However, there is growing evidence that target behavior relapse occurs to some degree in a majority of cases. The 6th edition of the Board Certified Behavior Analysis Test Content Outline includes a requirement to “plan for and attempt to mitigate possible relapse of the target behavior.” This presentation will introduce three relapse models that have been evaluated in the basic literature: reinstatement, renewal, and resurgence, and discuss their relevance to applied research and clinical services. Prevention and mitigation strategies for each type of relapse will be presented and recommendations for clinical practice will be provided.