Effects of Treatment Integrity Level and Error Type on Dro Efficacy: A Parametric and Comparative Analysis

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) is a strategy commonly used in applied contexts to address challenging behavior but can be difficult to implement with high treatment integrity. Previous research has shown that DRO may be robust despite marginal errors of commission, but the impact of differing degrees of errors and different error types during DRO is still unclear. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a parametric evaluation of treatment integrity level (100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%) in DRO when implemented with combined errors (Experiment 1) and to directly compare error types (commission errors, omission errors, combined errors; Experiment 2) in a human-operant arrangement using a multiple treatments reversal design. Rate of target responding was evaluated across baseline, DRO with 100% treatment integrity, and DRO with reduced treatment integrity. Results of Experiment 1 indicate that DRO may be robust with as little as 60% treatment integrity when implemented with combined errors. Results of Experiment 2 suggest that combined errors are most detrimental, and omission errors are slightly more detrimental than commission errors. These findings will inform future evaluations of treatment integrity errors in DRO and may contribute to a better understanding of how to arrange effective DRO interventions in applied contexts.