A preliminary investigation of procedural refinements to the performance diagnostic checklist - human services

ABSTRACT

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist – Human Services (PDC-HS) is a functional assessment tool used in the field of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) to assess reasons for employee performance problems and inform intervention development. There are two aspects of the intervention-selection process that could inhibit the objectivity and utility of the tool, particularly for practitioners with limited experience conducting the assessment. Proposed refinements to address these drawbacks include (a) identifying a cutoff threshold to objectively identify the categories requiring intervention based on the PDC-HS outcome, and (b) developing decision-making models to identify a single category that should be the focus of intervention. A between-groups design was used to evaluate the degree to which access to components of these proposed refinements resulted in appropriate intervention selections when practitioners in the field were presented with scenarios derived from published case studies. Binary logistic regressions indicated that practitioners with refinement access were 4.97 times more likely to select the most appropriate category for intervention, relative to those who did not have access to the refinements (p < .001, 95% OR CI [2.38,10.41]). Secondary analyses indicated variables such as certification level and experience in organizational behavior management did not significantly influence the selection of an appropriate category for intervention. Preliminary findings suggest that future applications of the PDC-HS, particularly as it relates to the intervention-selection process, may benefit from the supplemented refinements.

KEYWORDS:

• Employee performance
• functional assessment
• PDC-HS
• staff training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. This study was reviewed and received clearance from the Brock University Research Ethics Board [#20-212].

Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Notes

1. Although most commonly used to assess performance deficits, the PDC-HS assessment can be used to assess other employee behavior.