The University of Queensland has recently released a new tool to measure the quality of behaviour support plans (BSPs). While not endorsed by the NDIS Commission (yet!), for Behaviour Support Practitioners interested in implementing high quality positive behaviour support plans and supporting the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices, this is a must read.
Further information can be found here, and in their own words:
The Positive Behaviour Support Plan Quality Assessment (PBSP-QA; Vassos & Nankervis, 2025 is a newly developed, 43-item measure of positive behaviour support plan quality. It assesses the quality of plans that has been informed by a functional behavioural assessment (i.e. comprehensive plans, not interim plans).
The PBSP-QA items (spread across 11 domains) cover various aspects of plan quality including:
- Technical compliance with behavioural principles (e.g., behaviour description in terms of frequency, duration, and severity; identifying the function of behaviour, non-aversive strategies that focus on addressing the function of behaviour)
- Functional behavioural assessment (e.g., the use of direct and indirect measures of behaviour, including and consulting with the person who is the focus of the plan and other relevant stakeholders to inform plan development)
- Strategies to enhance the implementation of the plan (e.g., strategies to train plan implementers to use the proposed strategies, strategies to mentor plan implementers to use the strategies on a regular basis, outcome measurement and plan review)
- Readability and accessibility of plan content (e.g., concise descriptions of what needs to be done and when).
Each domain contains a set of optional items – the Additional Feedback items. These items focus on the acceptability and accessibility of the positive behaviour support plan being assessed, allowing the scorer the opportunity to provide feedback on plan quality markers that are more subjective (i.e., opinion-based).