Implementing Evidence-Based Practice: Practitioner Assessment of an Agency-Based Training Program

Abstract

Responding to the call for evidence-based practice (EBP) in social work, the authors conducted a multiphase exploratory study to test the acceptability of a training-based collaborative agency–university partnership strategy supporting EBP. The Bringing Evidence for Social Work Training (BEST) study includes an agency training component consisting of 10 modules designed to support the implementation of EBP in social agencies. Qualitative data from post-training participant focus groups were analyzed in order to describe practitioner perceptions of the 10 training modules and trainer experiences of implementation. Based on the findings from this study the authors suggest that the BEST training was generally acceptable to agency team members, but not sufficient to sustain the use of EBP in practice.

Keywords:

• Evidence-based practice
• empirically supported interventions
• agency–university partnerships
• training

Notes

Supported in part by the Willma & Albert Musher Program at Columbia University, the National Institutes of Health (K12-HD001441; Dr. Bledsoe-Mansori) and the National Institute for Mental Health (T32 MH014623; Drs. Bledsoe-Mansori, Bellamy, & Manuel). All authors were members of the Bringing Evidence for Social Work Training (BEST) team and authored this article on behalf of the entire team.