Evidence-Based Group Work in Community Settings

There has been a strong recent trend towards incorporating evidence into Social Work practice in general, and into group work in particular. This trend has focused on the education of students in the use of evidence, development of evidence-based interventions, and discussion of how evidence can be used to improve practice. A limitation of most of this literature is that it has been written by researchers for the consumption of practitioners, limiting the ability of evidence-based practices to be incorporated into unique community settings and with specific populations. In spite of this difficulty, implementation of evidence-based practices continues quietly in practice settings.

This book describes efforts to integrate evidence into community settings, which have two foci. The first part details group models developed through collaborations between researchers and community agencies. Each chapter details efforts to implement, research, or review programs in community settings. The second part deals with issues around instruction and dissemination of evidence-based group work into practice settings. The volume makes a significant contribution to the discussion about evidence-based group work.

This book was published as a special issue of Social Work with Groups.

David E. Pollio, LCSW PhD, is the Hill Crest Foundation Endowed Chair and Director of Research at the University of Alabama School of Social Work. He has more than 25 years experience as a group work provider and researcher for adolescent and adult populations.

Mark J. Macgowan, LCSW, PhD, is with the School of Social Work at Florida International University in Miami and is Associate Director of the University’s Community-Based Intervention Research Group. He has twenty-five years of group work practice and research experience, primarily with adolescents and with culturally-diverse populations.