Teaching Single-Case Evaluation to Graduate Social Work Students: A Replication

ABSTRACT

A course teaching graduate social work students to use an evidence-based model and to evaluate their own practice was replicated and evaluated. Students conducted a project in which they reviewed published research to achieve a clinical goal, applied quantitative measures for ongoing assessment, implemented evidence-based interventions, and evaluated effects of their interventions with single-case designs. More than half of the students conducted self-improvement projects monitored with self-report measures, with widely varied goals and interventions. Approximately 48% of the projects showed statistically significant improvements, and an additional 10% showed statistically nonsignificant gains, suggesting the benefits of this instructional format.

KEYWORDS:

• Evidence-based practice
• practice evaluation
• single-case research design
• teaching research
• teaching single-system research design

Additional information

Funding

Ms. O’Driscoll’s work on this research was supported by a Florida International University Presidential Fellowship.