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The authors discuss the difficulties of bringing evidence-based social work into practice. They mention the lack of value that social workers place on evidence-based practice (EBP), the need for more social work education programs to incorporate EBP into the curriculum, and the need for agencies and clinicians to implement EBP as part of their practice.

Bulimia nervosa is an often debilitating eating disorder with a biopsychosocial set of risk factors. Those presenting are at an increased mortality rate and often have physical health complications as well as harmful cognitions related to self-esteem and overall self-concept. This article examines treatment, policy, and social work ethics as they relate to bulimia nervosa. A comprehensive cognitive--behavioral approach including psychoeducation, self-monitoring, exposure therapy, interpersonal therapy, body image therapy, energy balance training, and relapse prevention is recommended as evidence-based practice for treating bulimia nervosa. Authors identify health care policy and analyze it as a common barrier to treatment access. They also review ethical principles of competency and social justice as they relate to social work practitioners working with those diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a widely recognized concept in contemporary social work practice. However, recent studies have shown that social workers do not understand EBP correctly. Standardized administrative approaches to implementing EBP have led to confu- sion about its core practice decision-making process. This collaborative process is the heart of EBP in direct social work practice. This article explores the EBP process and addresses a vital but often underemphasized step of EBP: active collaboration with the client in decision making. Active collaboration with the client is shown to be important in that it (a) is consis- tent with social work's professional values and ethics, (b) is consistent with patient-centered health care in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and contemporary health care approaches, (c) is consistent with culturally competent practice, and (d) has empirical sup- port for its beneficial impact. Correctly and fully understanding EBP in direct practice is important to improving social work practice and improving client outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses the evidence-based policy making. He comments on the linking drug policy to sustainable development as David Nutt, the Senior Drug Advisor and chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, explores the role of scientific advice in shaping policy. Also investigated the is the essence of the Government's 2005 Sustainable Development Strategy, "Securing the Future", on ensuring the foundation for policy making.

The advent of technology has been instrumental in creating access for social workers to research on evidence-based interventions. However, for many social problems there remains a gap in the availability of proven evidence-based strategies (Rosen et a!., 1999). For social workers facing problems for which there is a lack of research evidence, the solution is to develop practice innovations that can be evaluated (Sabah and Cook-Craig, 2008a, b). Virtual communities of practice (VCoP's) are a promising venue for housing reviews of research evidence and engaging social workers to share tacit knowledge and invent practice innovations. During the past two years, the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs has developed eighteen VCoP's social work practitioners. Those communities are designed to enable practitioners to review and use multiple sources of professional relevant knowledge in user-friendly repositories and to facilitate a collaborative inter-organizational learning and innovativeness. This exploratory study reviews evaluation data collected on the VCoP's. It includes quantitative analysis of secondary data and survey data on usage patterns of VCoP members. Findings related VCoP usage, the impact that organizational endorsement of organizational learning has on worker involvement in the community, and the development of weak professional ties between members were evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a study of a networked learning approach among remote social work practitioners in a large, rural local authority. The intervention was a blended approach that combined facilitation, face-to-face meetings, online communications and access to e-library resources. The intervention was focused on discussions of case management issues for three fictional cases. A method of text analysis used in community of enquiry research was implemented to examine participant discourse. Findings indicate that practitioners developed a community of enquiry that privileged face-to-face communication. Online resources were primarily used as supplementary communication. Practitioners engaged with the community of enquiry approach and used explicit knowledge to inform discussions of case planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on reasons, preconditions, and effects of implementing evidence-based practice (EBP) in social work. The author discusses the meaning, purpose and performance of EBP in social work. The author cites two fundamental reasons for academics to advocate and support EBP in social work. The author also cites the potential benefits of EBP to social work.

In recent years, evidence-based practice (EBP) has been a major focus in the social work profession. Concern has been expressed regarding licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) using novel unsupported interventions, especially those that made claims of efficacy in the absence of empirical evidence. The present exploratory study surveyed 191 LCSWs from 34 different states with diverse clinical specialties who advertised their services on the Internet. Participants were asked about specific supported and unsupported interventions used in their practices and the reasons for their choices and attitudes toward EBP. It was found that the majority reported using interventions that had empirical support. However, three-fourths of the sample also reported using at least one novel unsupported intervention in their practice. The use of novel unsupported interventions was found to be statistically more likely among women. The entire sample scored above the midpoint on the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS), indicating an overall positive attitude toward EBP Moreover, the present study found a weak but significant positive correlation between number of novel unsupported interventions used and EBPAS score. It appears that a positive attitude toward EBP and the use of novel unsupported interventions are not mutually exclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a critique of the experimentalist strand of the evidence-based practice movement in social work. It does so by drawing on the available body of knowledge that is found within the field of judgment and decision making. The nexus between experimentalist evidence-based practice and rational choice approaches to social work decision making is demonstrated. Subsequently, it argues that the properties of social work decision tasks are more likely to facilitate naturalistic than analytical decision making strategies. Recognition-primed decision making is introduced as a possible alternative to practice guidelines and decision aids. Finally, the consequences of embracing the principles of recognition-primed decision making are considered regarding social work practice, education and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses strategies for research infrastructure development in social work by building on the profession's work of the past two decades and by drawing on the experiences of the larger university environment. The article provides a set of recommendations for the next generation of social work research, which is likely to be highly interdisciplinary, focused on implementation of scientifically based programs, and called on to articulate its societal and economic contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multifaceted role of research in social work education and practice requires innovation to respond to the broader mission of the university and the needs of the community. Building research capacity and supporting infrastructure for research thus demands new approaches to effective collaboration between stakeholders. Intermediary organizations such as the Bay Area Social Services Consortium (BASSC) respond to the directive to bridge research and practice in social service delivery. This article presents BASSC as an example of a modern intermediary organization, discussing in turn the development of the training, policy, and research agendas and the challenges associated with implementing and maintaining the collaboration. The article concludes with a discussion of the unique contribution of intermediary organizations such as BASSC to supporting the multifaceted roles of research in schools of social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the research capacity building efforts of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto over the past 12 years. It identifies the role of strategic planning, the process of change, and the key practices, in terms of personnel, resources, research center development, and strategic community partnerships, which were used to enhance research capacity and productivity. Major lessons learned include the importance of continuity in leadership commitment, the need to use a strategic planning process to establish and implement achievable targets, the pivotal utility of research centers to act as catalysts and supporters of faculty research, the critical process of faculty development and recruitment, the importance of integrating the advancement agenda with institutional research objectives, and the need to systematically develop community research partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research centers in schools of social work are growing in number and scope. In this article the authors argue that this increase is in line with the growing recognition that research and science are critical components of the mission of the social work profession. The authors examine the purposes and various models for establishing research centers in schools of social work. They highlight the phases of development in the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services at the University of Southern California School of Social Work and articulate the operational principles on which the center is based and that have driven its operation and significant growth during the past decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is debate in the social work education community regarding the structure and depth of undergraduate research. This article emphasizes the importance of a commitment to undergraduate research in social work education. Because generalist practice is the first level of professional practice, students in baccalaureate programs need to be prepared to assess their own practice, evaluate the effectiveness of agencies and organizational structures, and study societal issues affecting clients. All of these components are vital to effective practice. The authors present the current state of undergraduate research, discuss issues in undergraduate research, and provide models and strategies to strengthen undergraduate research to prepare students for practice and graduate education. They also emphasize the benefits of undergraduate research for students and faculty and for the social work profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the 15 years of research development efforts of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR); delineates IASWR's roles in relation to the social work practice, education, and research communities; presents the transdisciplinary and transorganizational partnerships in which IASWR engages to influence national-level policy; identifies markers that demonstrate increased capacity; and, finally, points toward opportunities for the profession to carry gains to the next level. Specifically discussed are IASWR's role in partnerships and coalitions to influence federal policy and research resource development and IASWR's leadership work in promoting evidence-based practices in social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This opinion piece discusses priorities for the development of research infrastructure and support mechanisms for the study of evidence-based approaches to social work. The sponsorship of social work research with funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and related federal agencies is described. The authors believe that the concentration of research funding at universities with doctoral programs should be limited.

Policy makers at local, devolved and central government levels in the UK are much involved in the expansion of early intervention for children in both specialist targeted and mainstream services. They place much faith and anticipation in the notion of engaging early in the needs of children and young people and while this paper endorses the ambitions of early intervention, it asks how well placed are those sentiments that assume a relatively uncomplicated and positive role for such an approach. The paper addresses some key conceptual and practical features of early intervention services and explores a number of challenging themes that are likely to impede effective delivery. The themes are broadly outlined in order to include a number of critical perspectives that bear upon policy, practice and research in this field and which, together, summarize a contested realm in which global, cultural, organizational, resource, systemic and evaluative issues will in large part inform the design of early intervention and our understanding of its intended benefits. The paper concludes with commentary on the broad state of play in what we know about early intervention and identifies some key areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has contributed substantially to the advancement of knowledge in the treatment and prevention of adult mental health disorders. A fundamental assumption, based on documented evidence of effectiveness with certain populations, is that EBP is equally effective and applicable to all populations. However, small sample sizes of ethnic minority populations in randomized clinical trials prevent strong and clear conclusions about the effectiveness and generalizability of EBP with regard to people of color. In addition, the appropriateness of EBPs to ethnic minority communities has rarely been investigated. This article critically examines the applicability and dissemination of adult mental health EBP to diverse ethnic minority populations. It highlights limitations of EBP rooted in its epistemological narrowness, exclusion of communities of color, and lack of cultural competence and examines whether the practice of EBP has overstepped its evidence. This article presents a framework characterized by pathways of epistemological partnership and substantive inclusion of racial and ethnic minority groups to facilitate the promotion of culturally responsive EBPs and to inform mental health practice and policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on social work research and outcomes in the 1990s. Pyschosocial outcomes in social work research depend on research design, as well as on treatment fidelity. The article discusses the implementation of treatments and interventions in social work, noting how they can be enhanced through manuals and protocols for practitioners. Information is also provided on a literature review of attention given to treatment fidelity in social work research.

This paper presents the results of a survey of the reading habits of 184 social work practice teachers/assessors in 2005. New technology has transformed the availability of information, but in the UK, social workers, from whom Practice Assessors are drawn, have been found to have relatively poor access to electronic resources. The literature also highlights deficits in social workers' reading, but suggests that there is a strong oral tradition which may compensate for this. The survey aimed to show the choices this group of staff makes between different media and different types of knowledge. It was found that oral sources were the most used resource, but that habits of internet use were also very well developed. Respondents' reading, and particularly their use of the internet, appeared to be strongly influenced by organizational priorities and statutory roles. Clinical and therapeutic texts and specialist knowledge were also important to respondents. Books and journals were highly valued but cost was in many cases a barrier to access. Findings from this survey suggest that Practice Assessors are a relatively well resourced group and that the internet is of great importance as a source of information for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, interest is developing in the challenges of developing evidence-based guidelines for social work practice. The paper reports on the process of establishing the UK's first joint health and social care evidence-based practice guideline, which is in dementia care. The paper addresses the methodological and procedural challenges of reviewing, meta-analysing and synthesizing knowledge for health and social care given the contrasting histories of the two sectors in relation to the emergence of evidence-based practice, Dementia care is a complex domain within which social and clinical perspectives intersect, reinforcing the desirability of producing 'joined up' health and social care practice guidelines that are relevant to integrated services. It is suggested that the exemplar of producing a joint health and social care guideline for dementia may be a model for future development of practice guidelines. Some of the main recommendations are presented to illustrate the character of the joint guideline, lessons are drawn for future guideline development, and implications for policy and practice implementation are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 25 years the science of prevention of adolescent health and behavior problems has matured as a result of longitudinal studies of predictors of these problems and controlled studies of preventive interventions focused on those predictors that have revealed efficacious prevention strategies. This article builds on three Aaron Rosen lectures: Aaron Rosen's call for the use of evidence-based practice in the first lecture in this series, Mark Fraser's call for more intervention research in social work, and Claudia Coulton's explorations of "The Place of Community in Social Work Practice Research. " It documents key developments in prevention science over the past 25 years and explores what these developments could mean for social work education and research over the next few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about the latest developments in the practice and science of prevention of behavioral problems in young children and adolescents. The author provides an historical background of the school and community prevention programs in the United States from the 1960s. Results from prevention experiments show promise, but too many schools and communities implement untested or ineffective programs. Social work researchers and the social work practitioners need to develop a reliable method for the cultural adaptation of successful prevention programs and need to scale their effective programs for use in communities.

Notwithstanding the rise of evidence-based practice, other tendencies within social work scholarship are also discernible. One of these is the study of the everyday, routine accomplishment of practice, drawing on microsociological methods and techniques. In this article, I apply techniques drawn from narrative and discourse analysis to the study of reflective practice accounts, which hold an important place in social work education. In particular, it is relevant to examine the form that reflective accounts take and the rhetorical and narrative devices deployed within them to accomplish a competent professional identity. My argument is not that such accounts of practice are untruthful, rather I propose that we would do well to move beyond taking texts (and talk) for granted and treating language as merely the medium for expressing inner thoughts and feelings. Social work should take seriously the need to explore its modes of representation and to cultivate a more self-conscious approach to the way professional and client identities are produced in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the validity of evidence-based practice in social work. It critically examines various underlying presuppositions and assumptions entailed in evidence-based practice and draws out their implications for social work. The paper is divided into three main parts. Following a consideration of the background to the development of evidence-based practice and a discussion of its key organizing concepts, the paper goes on to examine its underlying scientific assumptions. It shows that evidence-based practice proposes a particular deterministic version of rationality which is unsatisfactory. Evidence-based practice is derived from ideas based on optimal behaviour in a planned and systematically organized environment. By concentrating on 'epistemic processes' involved in planning and psychological inference it is claimed that cognitive heuristic devices are the determinants of decision making and not evidence. The heuristic model suggests that decision making is indeterminate, reflexive, locally optimal at best and based on a limited rationality. It is argued that social workers engage in a reflexive understanding and not a determinate or certainty based decision-making process based on objective evidence. Complex phenomena such as decision making are not rationally determined or subject to 'control'. The paper goes on to suggest that the tendency to separate processes into 'facts' and 'values' implicit in evidence-based procedures undermines professional judgement and discretion in social work. The third part of the paper focuses on the connection between method and ideology in evidence-based practice. It examines how the evidence-based preoccupation with positivistic methods and determinate judgement entraps social workers within a mechanistic form of technical rationality. This framework restricts social work to a narrow ends--means rationality such that only certain forms of action are considered legitimate. This feeds into the rhetoric of new managerialist strategies aimed at developing a performance culture by further regulating and controlling individual practitioners. In the conclusion a number of critical indicators are given which should be addressed by the proponents of evidence-based practice. It is suggested that unless these are adequately dealt with, social work is not greatly advanced by adherence to an evidence-based approach. Moreover, the problematic epistemological and ideological base associated with it are to be regarded as inherently insuperable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights a social work seminar held at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Design of the seminar, including key themes and content of presentations; Importance of research to social work practice; Methodology in social work research; Response of social work professionals to social exclusion and social integration; Development of evidence-based practice in social work.

The author discusses ethical issues involved in evidence-based social work practice. He notes that evidence-based practice has become increasingly influential in social work practice and education and this can be seen in the proliferation of articles and books about the subject. Advocates of evidence-based practice contend that basing social work practice on research evidence is an important ethical mandate. He explores the epistemological structures of envidence-based practice and how these can stimulate dialogue and debate within the community.

Editorial. Comments on the "Theorizing Social Work Research" seminar series, held in Great Britain between May, 1999 and July, 2000; Remarks on the issues presented during the seminars; Details of topics discussed at the seminars, including social work education, evidence-based practice, and research methodology; Goal of many seminars to raise awareness around social work research; Values in social work research, including the influence of stakeholders and the promotion of social inclusion in the research process; Claim that the seminars brought an enthusiastic response from participants.

An editorial is presented looking at social work theory and practice, focusing on the alternative perspectives of social work as an art versus social work as a science. The author expresses the view that good social work practice draws on both art and science in the context of continual improvement, the need to respond to constant change, and the effort to provide relevant services.

The article discusses the significance of Signs of Suicide (SOS), an evidence-based suicide prevention program in the U.S. Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth in the U.S. The National Association of Social Workers and the School Social Work Association of America are cosponsoring activities with Screening for Mental Health programs to encourage screening for suicide in schools. SOS has proven effective in reducing suicidal behavior and improving student attitudes and knowledge about depression and suicide.