skip to main content
Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Back Button

Conjoint behavioral consultation

Public Health & Prevention: Community-based
Benefit-cost methods last updated December 2024.  Literature review updated January 2018.
Conjoint Behavioral Consultation is a family-school partnership model that aims to decrease students' disruptive behaviors and improve school-related social-behavioral skills. The program uses four to five consultation sessions conducted in small groups that include a classroom teacher, two to three parents, and a trained behavior consultant (i.e. school counselor). The participants work to identify specific disruptive behaviors, select alternative goals that promote prosocial behavior, implement an intervention plan, and evaluate progress. The intervention plans may use a variety of strategies to reduce disruptive behavior including positive reinforcement, environmental structuring (e.g. setting rules), skills training, or removal of privileges. The consultant may conduct a home visit with each family to assist in intervention delivery. The studies included in this analysis evaluated students in grades K–3 who were identified by their teachers as having exhibited disruptive behaviors. Students received the intervention for an average of two months.
 
ALL
BENEFIT-COST
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS
For an overview of WSIPP's Benefit-Cost Model, please see this guide. The estimates shown are present value, life cycle benefits and costs. All dollars are expressed in the base year chosen for this analysis (2023).  The chance the benefits exceed the costs are derived from a Monte Carlo risk analysis. The details on this, as well as the economic discount rates and other relevant parameters are described in our Technical Documentation.
Benefit-Cost Summary Statistics Per Participant
Benefits to:
Taxpayers $67 Benefits minus costs ($1,116)
Participants $26 Benefit to cost ratio ($0.30)
Others $53 Chance the program will produce
Indirect ($401) benefits greater than the costs 23%
Total benefits ($255)
Net program cost ($861)
Benefits minus cost ($1,116)

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured Treatment age No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) used in the benefit-cost analysis Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
First time ES is estimated Second time ES is estimated
ES SE Age ES SE Age ES p-value
Externalizing behavior symptoms
Symptoms of externalizing behavior (e.g., aggressive, hostile, or disruptive behavior) measured on a validated scale.
 7 2 272 -0.022 0.093 7 -0.012 0.056 10 -0.061 0.548
Internalizing symptoms
Symptoms of internalizing behavior (e.g., sadness, anxiety, or withdrawal) measured on a validated scale.
 7 1 159 0.033 0.125 7 0.033 0.125 9 0.086 0.491
1In addition to the outcomes measured in the meta-analysis table, WSIPP measures benefits and costs estimated from other outcomes associated with those reported in the evaluation literature. For example, empirical research demonstrates that high school graduation leads to reduced crime. These associated measures provide a more complete picture of the detailed costs and benefits of the program.

2“Others” includes benefits to people other than taxpayers and participants. Depending on the program, it could include reductions in crime victimization, the economic benefits from a more educated workforce, and the benefits from employer-paid health insurance.

3“Indirect benefits” includes estimates of the net changes in the value of a statistical life and net changes in the deadweight costs of taxation.
Detailed Monetary Benefit Estimates Per Participant
Affected outcome: Resulting benefits:1 Benefits accrue to:
Taxpayers Participants Others2 Indirect3 Total
Externalizing behavior symptoms Criminal justice system $6 $0 $14 $3 $24
Labor market earnings associated with high school graduation $16 $37 $20 $0 $74
K-12 special education $27 $0 $0 $14 $41
Health care associated with externalizing behavior symptoms $49 $14 $51 $25 $138
Costs of higher education ($2) ($4) ($1) ($1) ($8)
Internalizing symptoms K-12 grade repetition ($1) $0 $0 $0 ($1)
Health care associated with internalizing symptoms ($21) ($6) ($22) ($11) ($60)
Program cost Adjustment for deadweight cost of program $0 $0 $0 ($430) ($462)
Totals $67 $26 $53 ($401) ($255)
Click here to see populations selected
Detailed Annual Cost Estimates Per Participant
Annual cost Year dollars Summary
Program costs $715 2017 Present value of net program costs (in 2023 dollars) ($861)
Comparison costs $0 2017 Cost range (+ or -) 10%
The cost estimate is based on a program delivered through a combination of small group sessions (in partnership with a classroom teacher) and individual home-visits in which a school counselor acts as the behavior consultant, receives 64 hours of training, and serves 15 students, as reported in Sheridan et al. (2017). To calculate a per-student annual cost, we used average Washington State compensation costs (including benefits) for K–12 staff as reported by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The figures shown are estimates of the costs to implement programs in Washington. The comparison group costs reflect either no treatment or treatment as usual, depending on how effect sizes were calculated in the meta-analysis. The cost range reported above reflects potential variation or uncertainty in the cost estimate; more detail can be found in our Technical Documentation.
Benefits Minus Costs
Benefits by Perspective
Taxpayer Benefits by Source of Value
Benefits Minus Costs Over Time (Cumulative Discounted Dollars)
The graph above illustrates the estimated cumulative net benefits per-participant for the first fifty years beyond the initial investment in the program. We present these cash flows in discounted dollars. If the dollars are negative (bars below $0 line), the cumulative benefits do not outweigh the cost of the program up to that point in time. The program breaks even when the dollars reach $0. At this point, the total benefits to participants, taxpayers, and others, are equal to the cost of the program. If the dollars are above $0, the benefits of the program exceed the initial investment.

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Sheridan, S.M., Bovaird, J.A., Glover, T.A., Garbacz, S.A., Witte, A., & Kwon, K. (2012). A randomized trial examining the effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation and the mediating role of the parent-teacher relationship. School Psychology Review, 41(1), 23-46.

Sheridan, S.M., Witte, A.L., Holmes, S.R., Coutts, M.J., Dent, A.L., Kunz, G.M., & Wu, C.R. (2017). A randomized trial examining the effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation in rural schools: Student outcomes and the mediating role of the teacher–parent relationship. Journal of School Psychology, 61(2), 33-53.

Sheridan, S.M., Witte, A.L., Holmes, S.R., Wu, C., Bhatia, S.A., & Angell, S.R. (2017). The efficacy of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation in the home setting: Outcomes and mechanisms in rural communities. Journal of School Psychology, 62, 81-101.