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Social Validity And Its Impact On The Society

Decent Essays

Social validity was introduced by Wolf (1978), in which the need to measure the acceptability and impact of a programmed intervention in the society by the consumers. Since then, there have developed several models with different components of social validity (Carter, 2011). For example, Reimers, Wacker, and Koepple (1987) conceptualized a “decision-making” model of social validity, which focused on the level of understanding of an intervention. They created a six-level flow chart with numerous potential outcomes related to the implementation of an intervention to evaluate the acceptability of the intervention. Later, Schwartz and Baer (1991) described a model that was based on Wolf ‘s (1978) social validity, which emphasized the most significant variables influencing intervention acceptability. Despite the various models of social validity, the assessment of social validity in current studies rarely matches with one specific model to take into account as a scientific tool (Schwartz & Baer, 1991). Therefore, the purpose of the current paper is to critique how social validity was evaluated in Towery, Parsons, and Reid (2014) article using the models of social validity in Reinmer et al (1987), and Schwartz and Baer (1991). In addition, suggestions to improve their social validity assessment are discussed. Towery et al (2014) demonstrated that the routines teaching program was effective in reducing staff completion for consumers with developmental disabilities, while increasing

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