Perceptions of behavior analysis in France : accuracy and tone of posts in an Internet forum on autism

Abstract

Applied behavior analysis (ABA), which is often used as the basis for designing interventions for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is highly misrepresented and underutilized in many countries. One country where ABA remains particularly difficult to access is France. One potential problem is that parents often rely on online resources such as social media to identify interventions for their children. Many of these sources of information do not accurately portray ABA, or even openly disapprove of the science. To examine this issue, we used a data-mining methodology to extract, categorize, and analyze 897 messages on ABA published in a popular French internet forum based on their type, tone, and accuracy. Although messages were generally accurate and approving of ABA, our results showed that one in three messages fully or partially disapproved of the science, and one in four messages contained some inaccurate information. Our analyses also indicated that parents were more likely to approve of ABA than individuals with ASD. Finally, we found that the number of approving messages published in the internet forum decreased with time, especially over the last five years. Together, these results support the relevance of developing systems-level approaches to dispel misconceptions about ABA in languages other than English.