Évaluation of the social validity of behavioral interventions in children and adolescents with ADS
Developed in 1978, the concept of social validity is not much used, except in scientific publications. However, it is especially useful because it adds subjective data to objective ones, during the evaluation of behavioral interventions. This concept, which underlines the importance of society’s opinions about the adequacy of the objectives, the acceptability of the methods and the importance of results of the behavioral interventions, is presented here. First describing the context in which the concept emerged, we later specify what the social validity measures and to which public it applies, as well as its interests and the difficulties met when it was used. Publications about behavioral interventions developed for children or adolescents with autism spectrum disorder illustrate our subject.