The Behavioral Interview I

Abstract

The interview is probably the most widely used behavioral assessment instrument (Hay, Hay, Angle, & Nelson, 1979; Haynes & Jensen, 1979; Keefe, Kopel, & Gorden, 1978; Linehan, 1977; Mash & Terdal, 1976). In fact, a recent survey of behavior therapists (Wade, Baker, & Hartmann, 1979) indicated that the behavioral interview is used with the greatest percentage of clients and that 76% of the sample of therapists used the interview more than any other assessment procedure. This becomes quite startling when one realizes that little research has been devoted to it (Atkeson & Forehand, 1981; Ciminero & Drabman, 1977; Linehan, 1977). Linehan made a frontal assault on the problem when she stated:

The paucity of research on behavioral interviewing is truly amazing, especially when one considers that one of the strongest criticisms leveled at traditional assessment approaches by behaviorists is that they rely on unreliable methods of data collection and intuitive judgments in arriving at diagnostic and treatment decisions. (p. 49)