Evidence-Based Practice and Social Work Education: A View From Washington

Abstract

The growing focus on evidence-based practice (EBP) provides important opportunities for the social work profession to expand its research capacities as well as strategies for teaching students to use research. The use of evidence in developing policies and implementing innovative practices provides excellent opportunities for high-quality research and evaluation efforts, and an evidence-based perspective is applicable at the micro and macro levels. State and federal policies are incorporating the words evidence-based into their language, and there are expanding efforts to develop clearinghouses and resource sites to identify what works for whom under what conditions. This essay, responding in part to Corcoran and Thyer, provides a national perspective on the EBP movement in social work.

Étude de validation du programme Funambule : pour une gestion équilibrée du stress des adolescents

“…Si l'on tient compte des critères d'efficacité et de validité d'un traitement ainsi que le propose Zlotnik (2007), le programme Funambule se révèle particulièrement prometteur pour les raisons suivantes : 1) l'absence d'évidence empirique, théorique ou clinique que la participation à cette expérience de groupe comporte un risque. C'est en effet tout le contraire, puisque les résultats de cette étude de validation indiquent que les adolescents ont amélioré significativement leur gestion du stress à la suite de l'application de Funambule; 2) la clarté du guide d'intervention « clé en main » et l'efficacité sur le plan de la mise en oeuvre de Funambule lors de son application; 3) l'utilisation d'un devis quasi expérimental basé sur l'appariement des participants sur deux variables centrales -genre et intensité du stress -dans les groupes expérimentaux et les groupes témoins, de manière à augmenter la crédibilité dans les relations de causalité; 4) fiabilité et validité des questionnaires pré-post-tests sur le plan des propriétés psychométriques.…”

From “Producing” to “Consuming” Research: Incorporating Evidence-Based Practice Into Advanced Research Courses in a Master of Social Work Program

“…The concern is that in rapidly changing environments, innovation should be constant. We believe, as Zlotnik (2007) and others who have suggested, that EBP should encompass appraising the empirical base of all social work, which is not limited only to clinical contexts, but rather it also includes community-and policy-oriented decisions. We also feel that EBP does not stifle innovation but rather it has the capacity to stimulate innovation if the multiple evidences (e.g., literature, practitioners, consumers) are brought to bear on the practice under review.…”

“…Schools of social work have been encouraged to incorporate EBP in social work curriculum largely because of a variety of national trends, including (a) the National Institutes of Health's translation research movement; (b) managed-care initiatives that require empirically supported interventions; (c) other health professions' policy statements regarding the need to educate practitioners on the scientific evidence of various treatments; and (d) the proliferation of clearinghouses and government-sponsored agencies that publish meta-analyses, systematic reviews, practice guidelines, and empirically supported interventions (e.g., Campbell Collaboration, What Works Clearinghouse, Blueprints for Violence Prevention; Zlotnik, 2007).…”

Using Principles of Practice-Based Research to Teach Evidence-Based Practice in Social Work

“…The priority of this knowledge creation is on the highest internal validity possible. To that end, researchers often exclude from participation people who have co-morbidities (McMillen, Lenze, Hawley, & Osborne 2009;Zlotnik, 2007). One study investigated the extent of similarity between the conditions of community-based treatment and the conditions under which two popular interventions for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder respectively were developed.…”