Guided or independent? Social workers, central bureaucracy and evidence-based practice

Abstract

Since the start of the 1990s, a number of professional fields in the Western world have been confronted with increasingly explicit demands for scientific assurance regarding the effects of the work they do. The debate on the relationship between research and practice in social work has often been carried out under the heading of evidence-based social work or evidence-based practice (EBP). This article is based on a survey distributed to a representative sample of social workers and middle managers within the Swedish municipal social services. The results indicate a generally positive attitude among Swedish social workers towards EBP; at the same time they show a low level of active contact with the research literature of relevance for EBP. The results are contextualized and discussed against the background of some major methodological issues in EBP, such as, for example, the so called Dodo bird verdict in psychotherapy outcome research.

Sedan i början av 1990-talet har ett flertal professionella fält ställts inför alltmer artikulerade krav att uppvisa vetenskapliga belägg beträffande effekterna av den egna praktiken. Debatten beträffande relationen mellan forskning och praktik i socialt arbete har i ökande grad kommit att föras under rubriken evidenbaserat socialt arbete eller evidenbaserad praktik (EBP). Denna artikel baseras på resultaten från en enkät riktad till ett representativt urval av socialarbetare och mellanchefer inom socialtjänstens individ- och familjeomsorg. Resultaten visar på en allmän positiv inställning till EBP samtidigt som de också tydligt visar att kontakten och förtrogenheten med den vetenskapliga litteraturen med relevans för EBP befinner sig på en låg nivå. Resultaten diskuteras mot bakgrund av ett antal centrala metodologiska problem som har påvisats vara förenade med försöken att etablera EBP, det gäller till exempel det så kallade ‘Dodo bird verdict’ inom psykoterapiforskningen.

Keywords:

• Evidence-based Practice
• Social Work
• Profession
• Dodo Bird

Keywords:

• Evidenbaserad Praktik
• Socialt Arbete
• Profession
• Dodo Bird

Notes

1. About 140 returned questionnaires carried the message that the respondent actually worked in other areas then the ones we were interested in. All in all the results of this study build on answers from 748 respondents.

2. Component studies come in two major forms; dismantling designs and additive designs where the former involves the comparison between treatment A and treatment A without a given specific ingredient of treatment A. In the additive design, treatment A is compared with treatment A with the addition of a specific ingredient believed to be efficacious.