Practice-based Evidences for Social Workers  Tags: evidence-based_practice social_sciences  

PRE-MSW

MSW: Learn steps in the EBP Process, focusing on library resources at the University of Michigan Libraries in 

    Children and Youth I  (cultural competency development for child welfare workers)

    Children and Youth II (health disparity)

    Multicultural Social Work

      Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

    Social Work Practice in Mental Health

    Social Work Practice in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Post-MSW

Information Literacy Competencies for Professional Social Workers, focusing on free Internet resources, suggests strategies for staying informed in the practice area of  Substance Abuse.

If you find other resources that argue for or against the medical model of Evidence-based Practice, feel free to add them here!

  

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How will social workers maintain "best practice" over the course of their careers? There are many trends that will move the field in the direction of evidenced-based social work, according to Barry R. Cournoyer (2004, p. 2-3):

• Legislation mandates greater professional accountability; malpractice lawsuits are a growing concern; and court decisions uphold professional legal responsibility for outcomes of services.
• Managed health care systems provide incentives for practice-effective research studies.
• Advocacy groups grow stronger in the Internet Age.
• More outcome-based funding strategies are required.

Presentation objectives are to:

• Introduce concepts of evidence-based practice
  • A Non-hierarchical approach
    
  • Steps in Evidence-based Practice
    • Formulate clear clinical practice or program questions in social work
    • Formulate productive searches to improve probability of finding practice-relevant information
    • Find secondary literature (if available) in subject-based library databases (systematic reviews, meta-analysis, etc.)
• Introduce Refworks and Protocols to use with Refworks in library databases

"In social work, most agree that EBP is a process involving creating an answerable question based on a client or organizational need, locating the best available evidence to answer the question, evaluating the quality of the evidence as well as its applicability, applying the evidence, and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution. EBP is a process in which the practitioner combines well-researched interventions with clinical experience, ethics, client preferences, and culture to guide and inform the delivery of treatments and services." NASW Evidence-Based Practice

Cournoyer, B.R. (2004). The Evidence-based social work skills book. Boston: MA: Allyn and Bacon.

NASW Evidence-Based Practice http://www.socialworkers.org/research/naswResearch/0108EvidenceBased/default.asp

PROS        

Wahrmann, K.C. & Starin, A. (2009). Evidence-informed Practice: Illinois' Initiative to Meet the Challenge in Mental Health.

Parrish, D.E. & Rubin, A.  (2009). Translating EBP into Agency Settings: An Effective Continuing Education Training Model.

Hopson, L. & Larkin, H.  (2009).  University-Community Partnerships in Support of Evidence-based Practice.

Spath, R. & Carlson, P.M. (2009).  Promoting Evidence-based Practice through Education:  A Family Reunification Example.

Regan, J.A.R.C. & Heitkampp, T. (2009).  Evidence-based Best Practices to Ensure Success in Online Social Work Education.

Cochran, G. & Montgomery, K. (2009).  Evidence-based Practice Policy:  The Legislative Decision-making Process.

Peterson, S., Phillips, A., & Clark, T.  (2009).  Evidence-based Practice in Undergraduate Internships:  Examination of a Senior Seminar Project.

Bronson, D.E. & Harold, R.D.  (2009).  Systematic Reviews and Doctoral Dissertations:  Setting the Standards. 

Hamm, S. & Ammons, P.W.  (2009).  Assessing Hybrid Education in an Evidence-based Practice Concentration.

Carten, A.  J. & Gersh-Rosner, H.  (2009).   Design and Evaluation of an Empirically Based Field Work Specialization.

Buchan, V. & Shaefor, B.W.  (2009).  Prerequisites to Achieving EPAS Competencies for Evidence-based and Practice-Relevant Research. 

Sankar, S. & Gifford, G. (2009). Seminar in Field Instruction: A Vehicle for Teaching EBP and Information Literacy.

Forgery, M.A. & Robichaux, R.J.  (2009) Evidence-based Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S. Army.

Pignotti, M. (2009).  Novel and Empirically Supported Therapies:  Patterns of Usage among LCSWs.

Baker, L. & Batey, D. S.  (2009).  Perceptions of Evidence-based Practice:  A Qualitiative Analysis of Social Work Practitioners.

CONS

Hall, J.C. (2009).  A Feminist Exploration of Evidence-based Practice.

If you were exempt from foundation courses and want to brush up on your Information Literacy Skills see

Community Profile (SW560)
(Problem/need/opportunity and population affected)

Pollicy Researcher Tutorial (SW530)

Highlights of GAO-10-30.  Program Evaluation:  A Variety of Rigorous Methods Can Help Identify Effective Interventions.  Retrieved November 23, 2009 from GAO web site:  http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d1030high.pdf 

Full Report

"Requiring evidence from randomized experiments as sole proof of an intervention’s effectiveness is likely to exclude many potentially effective and worthwhile practices for which random assignment is not practical."

Hall, J.C. (2008). A practitioner's application and deconstruction of evidence-based practice.  Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Sciences.  89(3) 385-393.