Brazilian Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy

Prevention of Violence Against Women with Adolescents

Marcelo Borges Henriques, Renata de Mello Mamede (Author) — Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Violence against women is a serious public health problem in Brazil, especially during adolescence. This study sought, through a scoping review, to synthesize and analyze interventions with adolescents aimed at preventing violence against women. The search for articles was carried out on the Scielo, BVS Bireme and Scopus platforms, with the following inclusion criteria: peer-reviewed articles, written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, published between 2011-2021, which described interventions with adolescents to prevent violence against women, as well as their results. After applying the selection criteria, 16 articles were selected. It should be noted that most of the interventions carried out had few behavioral components and their results indicate changes predominantly focused on attitudes and opinions. It is concluded that these are guidelines focused on behavior change and that behavior analysis has great potential to contribute to this process.

Systematic review of teaching behavioral assessment methods in Applied Behavior Analysis

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Assessment is essential in interventions based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). This review sought to systematize studies that taught the implementation of behavior assessment methods or instruments, based on PRISMA. The searches were conducted in the PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC, Periodicos Capes and Web of Science databases, with the terms “behavior assessment” OR “behavioral assessment” OR “development assessment” AND “caregiver training” AND “staff training” AND “teacher training” AND “parent training”, in English. Among the 717 documents identified, 39 of them met the eligibility criteria. Results demonstrated that teachers were the most frequent participants, that the components of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) were the most used teaching procedures and that most studies taught how to conduct experimental functional analysis. The relevance of teaching teachers to identify the function of interfering behaviors and the scarcity of studies that taught the implementation of instruments to verify skills and behavioral deficits are discussed.

Cause and Behavior

João Eduardo Cattani Vilares, Isaias Pessotti (Author) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Behavioral therapist’s research and intervention practices involve taking assumptions about cause and behavior, because theoretical confusion results in confusion in practice too. The text presents different thought traditions that culminated in different definitions of causality throughout history, including scholastic doctrine, the scientific method and the experimental analysis of behavior. For Scholasticism, the cause is remote, immanent in the effect and efficient. It contrasts with the scientific method inaugurated by Galileo Galilei, which points out the contingencies of nature in the search for knowledge, rejects subjective aspects, and values observation and measurement. The objective of this text is to evaluate Behavior Analysis’ conception of cause, formulated mainly by B. F. Skinner, as a scientific proposal, with implications for behavior analysts. The authors suggest some conceptions of causality should be adopted in detriment of others, that can be abandoned.

HOW THE THERAPIST’S COVERT RESPONSES CAN HINDER OR AID CLINICAL CASE MANAGEMENT

Alessandra Villas Bôas, Luc Marcel Adhemar Vandenberghe (Author) — Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 -0300

Should the feelings and thoughts that clients evoke in psychotherapists during the session be considered? The purpose of this text is to elucidate the usefulness of observing the psychotherapist's covert responses. This topic is addressed in this conceptual didactic article based on clinical experience and pertinent literature. Three ways of using the covert behaviors are presented and illustrated. The feelings and thoughts elicited and evoked by clients in the therapist, can clarify the client’s interpersonal and social difficulties. Understanding the variables that control these therapist responses can help the decision making that guides treatment. Covert therapist responses can also pinpoint difficulties of the therapist, that can be overcome to enable new directions for treatment. Finally, sharing the therapist’s feelings with the client can benefit the treatment process. To work with his or her private events in practice can be a challenging to the therapist, demanding a discriminative repertoire that is both rule-governed (theoretical understanding) and contingency shaped (resulting from experiential training).