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A science-based approach to understanding health and disease emerged gradually over the past two centuries, while the modern evidence-based approach to health care emerged only about a half-century ago. The evidence-based approach to practice in health service psychology (HSP) gained significant traction after the American Psychological Association (APA) adopted it as policy in 2005, and in 2021, APA approved the first comprehensive set of guidelines for practicing HSP in an evidence-based manner. Several authors of this 2021 set of guidelines along with an additional subject matter expert wrote the current article. This article outlines the development of evidence-based practice in psychology, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three components of evidence-based practice (i.e., best available research, clinical expertise, and patient characteristics, culture, and preferences), and highlights the complexity involved in integrating related considerations during clinical decision making. The article then discusses strategies for the systematic application of this approach in HSP to improve the effectiveness of behavioral health care and strengthen population health. Public Significance Statement: Evidence-based practice in psychology aims to increase the effectiveness of psychological treatment. This article explains how evidence-based practice in psychology can be implemented more systematically to strengthen behavioral health care and improve the health of the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is lengthy, the Family Background Questionnaire (FBQ) provides reliable behaviorally specific family history information. Results from reliability and validity analyses suggest that a brief version of this instrument that assesses parental responsiveness, child maltreatment, and parental substance abuse would provide a useful screening instrument for obtaining family history information. The authors undertook the present study to develop a brief version that would incorporate recent research and theoretical developments in the field and that would maintain the original instrument's reliability and validity. Before introducing the brief version, the authors review the theoretical rationale for both the original and brief versions of the FBQ. Then the authors describe the procedures used to develop the brief FBQ. Finally, the authors compare the results of the reliability, factor structure, and other analyses of the brief version of the instrument with those of the original FBQ. (Contains 3 tables.)

A syllabus analysis instrument was developed to assist program evaluators, administrators and faculty in the identification of skills that students use as they complete their college coursework. While this instrument can be tailored for use with a variety of learning domains, we used it to assess students' use of and exposure to computer technology skills. The reliability and validity of the instrument was examined through an analysis of 88 syllabi from courses within the teacher education program and the core curriculum at a private Midwest US university. Results indicate that the instrument has good inter-rater reliability and ratings by and interviews with faculty and students provide evidence of construct validity. The use and limitations of the instrument in educational program evaluation are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

The state of Wisconsin recently launched a Research-to-Practice Initiative. One aspect of the Wisconsin initiative was to survey Wisconsin-Certified Alcohol and other Drug Abuse Counselors (CADCs) to assess their attitudes, reported practices, and resources in regard to the integration of research and practice. The sample for the present study included 366 CADCs. Of the 366 respondents, 62 percent (n = 226) were female and 38 percent (n = 140) were male. The respondents were primarily Caucasian (90 percent) with the remaining respondents identifying as African American (4 percent), Native American (2 percent), Hispanic (1 percent), and Asian American (0.5 percent). The results from the survey indicated that the majority of respondents have access to computers, e-mail, and the Internet at their workplace; report being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their education and training; and tend to approve of the efforts to integrate research and practice. Incentives, barrier,s and strategies to integrate research and practice are discussed. (Contains 7 tables.)

Examines the relationships between history of child abuse, recovered abuse memories, childhood memory in general, repression, and dissociation with a sample of undergraduate students (N=560). General quality of childhood memory was found to be unrelated to a history of abuse. Repressive personality traits were unrelated to recovering abuse memories, but dissociative traits were weakly associated with recovering abuse memories. (Author/MKA)

A study involving 553 college students, 27% of whom reported a history of child abuse, investigated whether family of origin dysfunction was associated with poorer childhood memory. Weak associations were found between family of origin dysfunction and poorer general quality of childhood memory. (Author/CR)

This report describes the development of the Family Background Questionnaire, a 179-item instrument with 22 subscales designed to assess memories of family characteristics. Results with 1,020 college students in three separate studies for initial reliability and validity, factor analysis, and test-retest reliability support the reliability and validity of the measure, and results from 35 sibling pairs were correlated as expected. (SLD)

This study of 429 nonclinical adults found that similar proportions of those reporting histories of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse reported that they had periods without memory of their abuse. The enormous variance in reported quality of childhood memories and the common recovery of forgotten childhood memories were both found to be unrelated to history of child abuse. (Author/PB)

Investigates the effects of cognitive style and theoretical orientation on psychology interns' judgments about the type of supervision they find most beneficial. Results indicate that trainees' cognitive styles and behavioral emphasis of their theoretical orientations were significantly related to their preferences for task-oriented and relationship-oriented supervision. (RJM)

The field of professional psychology has been tremendously successful, although it has also been characterized by many competing preparadigmatic theoretical orientations, which have led to a great deal of contention as well as conflicting views regarding psychological development, functioning, and behavior change. There is now widespread agreement regarding scientific explanations of many psychological processes, however, and, consequently, it is time to update the basic conceptual frameworks used for professional psychology education and practice. Replacing the traditional reliance on an array of theoretical orientations with a science-based biopsychosocial framework would resolve many of the contradictions and conflicts that characterized the preparadigmatic era and would also provide a common perspective for unifying psychologists around a shared approach to practice, research, and training. Keywords: theoretical orientations, evidence-based practice, biopsychosocial, unifying psychology