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The Future of Evidence in Evidence-based Practice

Who Will Answer the Call for Clinical Relevance?

Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, USA

Summary: This article considers factors important to the broad-scale adoption of an evidence-based approach to social work practice (EBP). Elements of the EBP framework, and particularly directions for future research, are examined in terms of a number of criticisms voiced in the literature.

Findings: Scholars in social work and allied disciplines have emphasized the implications of evidential hierarchies, and particularly the questionable clinical relevance of randomized controlled trials. While offering important considerations, arguments in opposition of EBP can be misconceived. Evidence-based practice is not merely a ‘best practice’ orientation, but a heuristic framework intended to foster explicit and accountable decisional capacities. Where EBP is limited highlights empirical questions that remain unanswered. Future directions for the approach will require the participation of both practitioners and researchers.

Applications: The article delineates the role of operationalized clinical decision-making, local clinical research, and the unique utilities of evaluation methodologies in building knowledge for a more clinically relevant evidence-base for social work practice.

Key Words: clinical social work practice • empirically supported treatment • epistemology • evaluation research • evidence-based practice knowledge use

Journal of Social Work, Vol. 6, No. 2, 101-115 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1468017306066737


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