Social Work Commons^™

Provision And Long-Term Assessment Of A Specialized Clinical Evidence-Based Practice Curriculum For Master Of Social Work Students, Susan Reay

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study investigated social workers’ knowledge of the common elements in evidence-based practice to treat youth mental health conditions following a specialized curriculum during their Master of Social Work (MSW) education. Participants’ knowledge was measured during their MSW education and in their first 5 years of social work practice after graduation. The quantitative study measured participants’ knowledge of common elements three times; 86 social workers participated in the study with 67 sets of scores at three data points. Study results showed that participants knew more after completing the curriculum but knew less one to five years after graduation. Overall, however, …

Community Stakeholder Preferences For Evidence-Based Practice Implementation Strategies In Behavioral Health: A Best-Worst Scaling Choice Experiment, Nathaniel J. Williams

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Community behavioral health clinicians, supervisors, and administrators play an essential role in implementing new psychosocial evidence-based practices (EBP) for patients receiving psychiatric care; however, little is known about these stakeholders’ values and preferences for implementation strategies that support EBP use, nor how best to elicit, quantify, or segment their preferences. This study sought to quantify these stakeholders’ preferences for implementation strategies and to identify segments of stakeholders with distinct preferences using a rigorous choice experiment method called best-worst scaling.

Methods: A total of 240 clinicians, 74 clinical supervisors, and 29 administrators employed within clinics delivering publicly-funded behavioral health services …

Technical Reviewing For The Family First Prevention Services Act: Strategies And Recommendations, Antonio R. Garcia, Peter J. Pecora, Audrey H. Schnell, Cynthia Burnson, Elizabeth Harris, Allison Finseth

Social Work Faculty Publications

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) has compelled states to expand their priorities to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs) as a means to prevent foster care placement. While the states may opt to include EBPs already approved by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), some state leaders are opting to commission an independent technical review for the EBP they would prefer to implement as part of their FFPSA plan. While the goal is for ACF to approve their plan and issue a temporary license, little guidance is provided on how to conduct technical reviews. Relying upon the expectations that …

Home Safe, Megan Nigus

MSW Capstones

Home Safe is a housing program designed to provide permanent, affordable, supportive housing for women and children escaping domestic violence. The project is guided by evidence-based practice for serving this vulnerable population most effectively. This program is also guided by the NASW Code of Ethics. Guiding theoretical orientations include conflict theory and feminist theory. A basic description of the Home Share program is provided along with a discussion about program evaluation techniques and Home Share’s strategies for eliminating housing barriers for women and children escaping domestic violence. Volunteer recruitment, funding, and phase 2 planning is described. The program is designed …

It’S About Time: Initial Findings From A Feasibility Study Of A Time-Study Tool For School Social Workers In Michigan, Michael S. Kelly, Steven Whitmore

International Journal of School Social Work

Starting in late Summer of 2015, the two authors began collaborating on the pilot testing of a school social work (SSW) time-study tool with a sample of SSW in suburban Detroit (n=9). This article details the path towards the development of the time-study tool, drawing from the extant literature on workload and caseload issues in related special education fields, and resulting in the time-study tool that was first piloted with SSW in 2015-2016. Initial data from year one of the two-year 2015-2017 pilot project is shared in this article, along with qualitative data based on interviews with the SSW in …

Predictors Of Empirically-Supported Interventions Following Structured Functional Assessment., Alton Nathaniel Verbist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Assessment is foundational to the process of evidence-based practice yet has received little research attention. Project SAFESPACE has recently initiated screening and assessment for all children entering out of home care in Kentucky with the goal of providing assessment-driven, evidence-based treatment. The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment—the instrument adopted in this service system—is designed to link the assessment process with the selection of appropriate interventions. Informed by naturalistic decision making, this dissertation sought to investigate the relationship between responses on the CANS assessment and the empirically supported interventions subsequently prescribed by the assessing clinician. Using secondary data …

Yoga-Specific Enhancement Of Quality Of Life Among Women With Breast Cancer: Systematic Review And Exploratory Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Controlled Trials, Daline El-Hashimi, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Physical activities during and after cancer treatment have favorable psychosocial effects. Increasingly, yoga has become a popular approach to improving the quality of life (QoL) of women with breast cancer. However, the extant synthetic evidence on yoga has not used other exercise comparison conditions. This meta-analysis aimed to systematically assess yoga-specific effects relative to any other physical exercise intervention (eg, aerobics) for women with breast cancer. QoL was the primary outcome of interest. Eight randomized controlled trials with 545 participants were included. The sample-weighted synthesis at immediate postintervention revealed marginally statistically and modest practically significant differences suggesting yoga’s potentially greater …

Linking Molar Organizational Climate And Strategic Implementation Climate To Clinicians’ Use Of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Techniques: Cross-Sectional And Lagged Analyses From A 2-Year Observational Study, Nathaniel J. Williams, Mark G. Ehrhart, Gregory A. Aarons, Steven C. Marcus, Rinad S. Beidas

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Behavioral health organizations are characterized by multiple organizational climates, including molar climate, which encompasses clinicians’ shared perceptions of how the work environment impacts their personal well-being, and strategic implementation climate, which includes clinicians’ shared perceptions of the extent to which evidence-based practice implementation is expected, supported, and rewarded by the organization. Theory suggests these climates have joint, cross-level effects on clinicians’ implementation of evidence-based practice and that these effects may be long term (i.e., up to 2 years); however, no empirical studies have tested these relationships. We hypothesize that molar climate moderates implementation climate’s concurrent and long-term relationships with …

Evidence-Based Child Welfare Screening And Assessment Practices, Melissa Hardin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this action research project was to examine the screening and assessment behaviors of child welfare workers in the southwestern region of the United States. The study addressed whether social workers' knowledge of evidence-based practice influenced their implementation of evidence-based practice in child welfare screening and assessment, and whether the agency environment affects evidence-based practice implementation and use. The family systems theory was used to evaluate child welfare practitioner work and systems theory was used to evaluate the child welfare system in the region of the study. A focus group comprised of seven social workers practicing in the …

Social Workers’ Evidence-Based Practice Use And Challenges In Rural Environments: A Systematic Review, Mingun Lee

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Over the past decade, the demand for Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in the social work field has increased. Previous studies indicate that EBP promotes clinical decision making based on current best evidence and decreases the use of ineffective interventions. However, social workers still face a variety of barriers to become evidence-based practitioners. Particularly, social workers practicing in rural areas face increased barriers to make use of evidence in practice. This study conducted a systematic review of current literature to find evidence related to social workers’ use of EBP and their barriers in rural settings. Reviews were limited to social work studies …

Use Of Evidence-Based Practice To Enhance Decision-Making In Rural Child Welfare Practiceuse Of Evidence-Based Practice To Enhance Decision-Making In Rural Child Welfare Practice, Karen Rice

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Child welfare practitioners need to ensure they employ effective decision-making when implementing services to families at risk for abuse and/or neglect of their children. Utilizing a structured decision making process, specifically an evidence-based process, may enhance case outcomes (Hagermoser-Sanetti, & Kratochwill, 2009). Evidence-based practice is an attempt to bridge the gap between research and practice (Hagell, & Spencer, 2004). Evidence-based practice (EBP) is defined as a “process that blends current best evidence, community values and preferences, and agency, societal, and political considerations in order to establish programs and policies that are effective and contextualized” (Regehr, Stern, & Shlonsky, 2007, p. …

The Effects Of Continuing Education On Nurse Knowledge Of Safe Haven Laws In Illinois, Lindsay Thiemkey Gordon

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Illegal and often fatal infant abandonment is a pervasive public health crisis. Safe Haven Laws (SHLs) help to prevent illegal infant abandonment by allowing specific professionals, including nurses, to accept unharmed newborns within statutorily defined parameters. SHLs have existed for nearly two decades, yet many healthcare workers are not knowledgeable about these laws: this implies that initial efforts to educate healthcare workers about SHLs have been ineffective. Continuing education supports lifelong learning which is a basic tenet of nursing practice. The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to teach nurses about SHLs through evidence-based continuing education. Literature firmly …

A Replication Of Failure, Not A Failure To Replicate, Gary Holden, Kathleen Barker, Sofie Kuppens, Gary Rosenberg, Jonathan`

Publications and Research

Purpose: The increasing role of systematic reviews in knowledge production demands greater rigor in the literature search process. The performance of the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database has been examined multiple times over the past three decades. The current study is a replication within this line of research.

Method: Issue level coverage was examined for the same 33 SWA core journals and the same time period as our 2009 study.

Results: The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was 20%. The mean percentage of issues missing in the current study was significantly greater than …

Refining The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (Ebpas): An Alternative Confirmatory Factor Analysis, David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv Unegv Waya) Phd, Catherine N. Dulmus Phd, Eugene Maguin Phd, Nicole Fava

Brown School Faculty Publications

Barriers to adopting evidence-based practices into real-world mental health organizations have received considerable attention and study. One particular attempt is Aarons’s Evidence- Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS), which measures a worker’s attitudes toward adopting new treatments, interventions, and practices. This study follows Aarons’s work by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis of the EBPAS administered in a large child and family human service agency in New York state (N = 1,273). Replicating Aarons et al.’s four-factor model of the EBPAS, the authors found that, within the model, the pattern of factor loadings that was apparent in previous investigations held for their …

Child Welfare Partnership For Research And Training: A Title Iv-E University/Community Collaborative Research Model, Laurie Drabble, Kathy Lemon, Amy D'Andrade, Brett Donoviel, Julia Le

Faculty Publications

University-community partnerships are increasingly recognized as valuable in educating students for professional practice and bridging the gap between research and practice. This manuscript describes the evolution and design of a university-community partnership between a School of Social Work in one urban university and local child welfare agencies: the Child Welfare Partnership for Research and Training (CW-PART). This local partnership illustrates types of opportunities and outcomes that emerge when state and local entities leverage greater results from federal funding through partnerships with local universities. The manuscript describes 1), the community-engaged framework used to inform the overall approach and partner roles; 2) …

The Organizational Social Context Of Mental Health Services And Clinician Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice: A United States National Study, Gregory A. Aarons, Charles Glisson, Phillip D. Green, Kimberly Hoagwood, Kelly J. Kelleher, John A. Landsverk

Social Work Publications and Other Works

Background

Evidence-based practices have not been routinely adopted in community mental health organizations despite the support of scientific evidence and in some cases even legislative or regulatory action. We examined the association of clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice with organizational culture, climate, and other characteristics in a nationally representative sample of mental health organizations in the United States.

Methods

In-person, group-administered surveys were conducted with a sample of 1,112 mental health service providers in a nationwide sample of 100 mental health service institutions in 26 states in the United States. The study examines these associations with a two-level Hierarchical Linear …

A Few Thoughts On Evidence In Social Work, Gary Holden, Ellen Tuchman, Kathleen Barker, Gary Rosenberg, May, Sofie Kuppens, Katie Watson

Publications and Research

Social work practitioners must act every working day in the face of uncertainty. This uncertainty arises in part because knowledge is often difficult to locate or sometimes lacking regarding: the systems context the population being served; the particular client system; the set of problems the client system is experiencing; as well as the various interventions that could be selected. It seems reasonable to explore ways to reduce the experience of uncertainty, and narrow, if not eliminate, the knowledge gaps that arise in such situations. The generic idea of evidence based practice has been advanced for some time as an approach …

Barriers And Opportunities For Evidence-Based Practice: Curriculum Changes In Fieldwork And Classroom In Social Work Education, Anwar Najor-Durack

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to consider perceptions held by social work faculty and agency-based field instructors to incorporate EBP into social work student classroom and field placement experiences. This study identifies perceptions of social work faculty and field instructors about EBP, determines the extent to which social work faculty and field instructors incorporate and use EBP; and considers how organizational leadership and/or technology supports influence adoption and utilization of EBP. The population for this study included all full-time social work faculty members employed by three large public universities in southeast Michigan (Michigan State University [MSU], University of Michigan …

Making Sense Of Meta-Analysis: A Critique Of "Effectiveness Of Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy", Julia H. Littell, Aron Shlonsky

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

Evidence-based practice depends in part on knowledge derived from relevant research. For any given topic, there are likely to be many, potentially relevant studies; a careful appraisal and synthesis of the results of these studies is needed to understand the state of the empirical evidence. Meta-analysis is widely used to combine results of quantitative studies; yet this method is unfamiliar to many people and, as a result, meta-analyses are often uncritically accepted. In this article, we argue that meta-analysis is only one component of a good research synthesis. We critique a recent meta-analysis on the effectiveness of long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy, …

Exploring Recovery Experiences Of Women In Alcoholics Anonymous, Linda Myllmaki

Undergraduate Review

Twelve step recovery programs are prevalent in the United States, however, there is relatively little empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of these programs for female alcoholics or addicts. How women experience the process of recovery within the twelve-step model is critical to our overall understanding of the recovery process. This article reports the results of an exploratory qualitative study of women in Alcoholics Anonymous. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, nine women were asked to discuss their personal experiences of recovery in the AA program. Grounded theory methodology was utilized to analyze the data. Reasons for joining AA, meeting attendance, …

Evidence-Based Practice For Youth In Supervised Out- Of-Home Care: A Framework For Development, Definition, And Evaluation, Richard P. Barth, Johanna K.P. Greeson, Sarah R. Zlotnik, Laura K. Chintapalli

Johanna K.P. Greeson, PhD, MSS, MLSP

Adolescents comprise more than half of the children in child welfare supervised out-of-home care. This article considers the evidence-base for an array of services to adolescents in out-of-home care and evaluates the existing research base for each program. This review advances a framework for considering the critical need to develop, define, and evaluate the essential elements of out-of-home care services for older foster youth. Policy, program, and evaluation recommendations are forwarded.

Family Preservation In Families’ Ecological Systems: Factors That Predict Out-Of-Home Placement And Maltreatment For Service Recipients In Richmond City, Jody Hearn

Theses and Dissertations

Family preservation services are intended to prevent the out-of-home placement (into foster care or some other alternative arrangement) of children and youth in families at risk of maltreating them. An Ecological Systems perspective of these families might suggest that a family’s context (represented by the variables of poverty, agency services, family history, and individual/caretaker characteristics) must be considered as an over-arching influence in families’ risk and outcomes. The purpose of this cross-sectional secondary data analysis study was to identify layered factors that distinguish family preservation cases in Richmond, VA that experience removal or subsequent abuse or neglect from those that …

Does Organizational Culture Affect Employee's Readiness To Implementation Of Evidence-Based Practices?, Joseph Waller

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The emergent trend toward the use of evidence-based practices in children’s mental health services has been gaining recognition (Barwick et al., 2005). The motivation for implementing evidence-based practices is to build quality and accountability in the delivery of mental health services. Children with emotional and behavioral disorders should be able to rely on receiving services that can accommodate their personal needs based on the best scientific evidence available. Most children who receive evidence-based treatment display significant progress and do so much more quickly than children that receive other non evidence-based treatment or no treatment at all.

The importance of implementing …

Toward Evidence-Informed Policy And Practice In Child Welfare, Julia H. Littell, Aron Shlonsky

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

Drawing on the authors’ experience in the international Campbell Collaboration, this essay presents a principled and pragmatic approach to evidence-informed decisions about child welfare. This approach takes into account the growing body of empirical evidence on the reliability and validity of various methods of research synthesis. It also considers wide variations in the cultural, economic, and political contexts in which policy and practice decisions are made—and the contexts in which children live and die. This essay illustrates the use of Campbell and Cochrane systematic reviews to inform child welfare decisions in the diverse contexts that exist around the globe.

Acute Psychiatric Group Therapy For Hospitalized Individuals With Serious And Persistent Mental Illness, Lindsey Bednar

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to identify group therapy interventions to be provided during a time limited acute psychiatric hospitalization for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) derived from evidenced-based research.

Research Question: What skills deficits and theory of practice are most efficacious with individuals with SPMI diagnosis served by ISJ Behavioral Health Unit?

Mental Health Relapse Prevention: What Does The Research Say?, Robin Bode

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This Capstone Project researches evidenced-based literature in the area of mental health relapse prevention planning. The literature review explored best practices in providing mental health relapse prevention interventions and identified research study outcomes. The South Central Crisis Center of Mankato provides residential sub-acute care, crisis assessment, intervention, education and psychiatric urgent care to individuals that identify mental health issues as their primary concern (South Central Crisis Center, 2003). Within the 10 bed facility, clients participate in psycho-social educational groups and receive individual clinical services. Prior to discharge clients meet with the mental health professional to complete an In Home Treatment …

Evidence-Based Or Biased? The Quality Of Published Reviews Of Evidence-Based Practices, Julia H. Littell

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

Objective

To assess methods used to identify, analyze, and synthesize results of empirical research on intervention effects, and determine whether published reviews are vulnerable to various sources and types of bias.

Methods

Study 1 examined the methods, sources, and conclusions of 37 published reviews of research on effects of a model program. Study 2 compared findings of one published trial with summaries of results of that trial that appeared in published reviews.

Results

Study 1: Published reviews varied in terms of the transparency of inclusion criteria, strategies for locating relevant published and unpublished data, standards used to evaluate evidence, and …

Do Some Interventions Work Better Than Others? A Review Of Comparative Social Work Experiments, William Reid, Bonnie Kenaley, Julanne Colvin

Bonnie Kenaley

Knowledge of which interventions are more efficacious than others for given problems is central to evidencebased practice. Attempts to build this knowledge have been confined largely to reviews and meta-analyses of experiments comparing methods of psychotherapy. This literature has suggested that different methods tend to have equivalent results. The authors reviewed all experiments comparing 39 social work programs that were published between 1990 and 2001. Contrary to findings for psychotherapy experiments, a large majority of the social work comparisons showed differential effects. The role of common factors appeared to be diminished by departures of most the social work programs from …