Development and Validation of a Functional Behavioural Assessment Ontology to Support Behavioural Health Interventions

Background: In the cognitive-behavioral approach, Functional Behavioural Assessment is one of the most effective methods to identify the variables that determine a problem behavior. In this context, the use of modern technologies can encourage the collection and sharing of behavioral patterns, effective intervention strategies, and statistical evidence about antecedents and consequences of clusters of problem behaviors, encouraging the designing of function-based interventions. Objective: The paper describes the development and validation process used to design a specific Functional Behavioural Assessment Ontology (FBA-Ontology). The FBA-Ontology is a semantic representation of the variables that intervene in a behavioral observation process, facilitating the systematic collection of behavioral data, the consequential planning of treatment strategies and, indirectly, the scientific advancement in this field of study.