Does Information About Behavior Interventions or Psychotropic Medication Bias Child Welfare Service Providers’ Perceptions of Intervention Effectiveness?

Abstract Federal oversight calls for decreased reliance on psychotropic medication to reduce challenging behavior in state foster care systems; however, some professionals may oppose a shift toward using behavioral interventions. This study replicated Almanza et al. Developmental Neurorehabilitation , 23 , 448–456, (2020) and Massey et al. Education and Treatment of Children , 47 , 35–49, (2024) by assigning 115 child welfare service providers to one of four groups: Medication information (Med info), Behavioral information (Beh info), No change control, and Reverse video (Rev vid) control. Participants in the Med info, Beh info and No change groups watched a 5-min video (video A) of a child engaging in low to moderate levels of problem behavior. After watching video A, participants rated seven statements on a 5-point Likert scale. Thereafter, participants were informed that the child received behavioral intervention (Beh info group), psychotropic medication (Med info group), or no changes in supports (No change and Rev vid [participants watched video B first and video A second] control groups). Subsequently, participants watched a second 5-min video of the same child and rated the same seven statements. Notably, video B depicted the same child engaging in slightly more problem behavior than in video A. Although the Med info, Beh info, and No change groups all observed the same videos in the same order, only participants in the Beh info group provided more negative ratings of the child’s behavior for six of the seven statements after viewing the second video (video B). We discuss implications of these findings for children in child welfare systems.