With recent increases in the use of positive approaches to treatment for individuals with developmental disabilities, it seems appropriate to review the variables that have been found to influence the acceptability of various treatments. Programmatic treatments for problematic behaviors that incorporate primarily positive (reinforcement) components rather than negative (punishment) components may still be susceptible to variables found to influence the acceptability of treatments. Although more positive reinforcement based approaches are certainly preferred, the need to consider the right to effective treatment is also an important component of any intervention for problematic behavior. To continually assure the right to effective treatment, the examination of variables affecting the acceptance of treatments continues to be an important area of research. This paper reviews the instruments that have been used to evaluate the acceptability of treatments as well as the variables that have shown demonstrated influence on the acceptability of treatments for problematic behavior. (Contains 2 tables.)