Behavioral Community Approach: Particularities and Challenges

Abstract

Given the interest of behavior analysts in understanding and intervening in social systems, we present an essay on the behavioral community approach, highlighting how the field has been defined conceptually, its specificities due to the settings and contexts of application, and the features of the applied studies published up to the date. The field constitutes an interface between community psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis, both of which emerged as an alternative to the biomedical model of explaining and treating mental health problems during the 1970s. Despite its initial emphasis on prevention in the mental health domain within community context, the field has diversified, covering topics such as the environment and traffic. Furthermore, applied studies adopting the behavioral community approach can be categorized into two strategies, depending on (1) the type of behaviors they promote and (2) the setting. In the first case, the studies seek to promote topographically and functionally similar behaviors among people who share the setting, without the need for interacting with each other, but aiming for a cumulative effect. In the second case, they seek to promote behaviors that facilitate the discussion and solution of community problems, using group meetings or community committees as the application setting; in these, it is assumed that there is an interaction between the participants. The field has also been marked by discussions about the feasibility and usefulness of experimental control and other recommendations, such as the direct participation of community members in the research development and attention to existing resources in the community as strategies to facilitate project sustainability. Furthermore, the need to consider the personal values of the parties involved, as well as recognized universal values – such as social justice – is another discussion that has characterized the behavioral community approach. Here, the social validation methodology and its use not only to evaluate interventions, but to plan them, stands out. We close this essay by pointing out the decline in popularity of the behavioral community approach over the last few decades and the need for more studies in this area, so its potential contributions can be attested. To this end, a dialogue between behavior analysts and policymakers, professionals who offer services addressed by these policies and/or representatives of organizations that offer voluntary services directly in the territories, such as religious organizations, can be a venue to advancing the field in Brazil.