Teletherapy is a new form of service delivery that allows practitioners to provide consultation services to clients despite geographical distances. Although Teletherapy had been used in other social service fields, research on Teletherapy within the field of behavior analysis is still relatively new. Teletherapy could advance our field by allowing behavior analysts to provide consultation and supervisions services to a higher number of clients, since Teletherapy would reduce the time and cost spent traveling to different family homes. Research had already shown that Teletherapy can effectively teach parents to implement new skills to their child with autism. This study sought to expand research by comparing Teletherapy supervision sessions with in vivo supervision sessions with four personal support staff. Social validity and treatment integrity were measured in order to assess if staff felt supported during Teletherapy sessions, and to compare any differences in staff performances across the supervision formats. Results show that 75% of the staff felt just as supported during teletherapy supervision as they did during in vivo sessions, and all staff felt that the program used to conduct teletherapy sessions was easy to use. In addition, there was no difference in staff performance for all 4 participants across supervision formats. Future research on Teletherapy is also addressed, and the positive impact Teletherapy can have in advancing the field of behavioral analysis.

Children are being removed unnecessarily from their families and placed into substitute care because service programmes lack resources to keep families intact. There are overseas programmes, which provide home services to families, with children at risk of out of home placement. Although there has been an IFPS project there is no established intensive short-term programme in South Africa that deals with families at the brink of dissolution.The objective of the research is to investigate whether an Intensive Family Preservation Programme is feasible in South Africa. The researcher received training in the United States and met with leaders in the field, to discuss the development and implementation of the programme in South Africa. Surveys obtained the attitudes and opinions of the local social workers and commissioners of Child Welfare in Durban towards the programme. The results from opinion surveys indicate that an Intensive Family Preservation Programme is feasible in South Africa. / Social Science / M.A.(Social Work)

Children are being removed unnecessarily from their families and placed into substitute care because service programmes lack resources to keep families intact. There are overseas programmes, which provide home services to families, with children at risk of out of home placement. Although there has been an IFPS project there is no established intensive short-term programme in South Africa that deals with families at the brink of dissolution.The objective of the research is to investigate whether an Intensive Family Preservation Programme is feasible in South Africa. The researcher received training in the United States and met with leaders in the field, to discuss the development and implementation of the programme in South Africa. Surveys obtained the attitudes and opinions of the local social workers and commissioners of Child Welfare in Durban towards the programme. The results from opinion surveys indicate that an Intensive Family Preservation Programme is feasible in South Africa. / Social Science / M.A.(Social Work)