Norwegian Social Work and Child Welfare Students’ Attitudes Toward Research-Supported Treatments

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Evidence-based practice (EBP) has increasingly become a part of social work education, but there is a lack of knowledge about students’ attitudes toward it. This study evaluated Norwegian social work students’ attitudes toward research-supported treatments (RSTs).

Method: Attitudes were measured with the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale-36 (EBPAS-36), a validated measure including 12 subscales.

Results: The findings suggest that master’s students are more positive toward RSTs compared to bachelor’s students. Having less educational training in EBP was associated with more skepticism toward the concept, suggesting that educational training in EBP contributes to facilitating a positive attitude toward RSTs.

Discussion: These findings indicate a need to emphasize EBP in social work education. To enable EBP engagement in practice, we argue that emphasis should be put on teaching students to critically appraise research.

KEYWORDS:

• Evidence-based practice
• research-supported treatments
• social work
• social work education
• EBPAS

Notes

1. There are two educational programs leading to a career as a social worker in Norway: a bachelor’s degree in social work, or one in child welfare. Those who were enrolled in a master of social science program in this sample could chose to specialize in social work or child welfare.