Evidence-based Practice in Social Work: Development of a New Professional Culture

The role of evidence-based practice is one of most central and controversial issues in social work today. This concise text introduces key concepts and processes of evidence-based practice whilst engaging with contemporary debates about its relevance and practicality.

Evidence-based Practice in Social Work provides both an argument for the importance of evidence-based practice in social work and fresh perspectives on its controversies and organizational prerequisites. It gives an accessible overview of:

• Why evidence-based practice is relevant to social work.
• The challenges that the realities of social work practice present to models of evidence-based practice.
• Concepts of evidence-based practice as a process and professional culture.
• The role and nature of evidence.
• How evidence-based practice can be implemented and the importance of the organisational context.
• The globalization of evidence-based practice, including issues of cultural diversity and adaptability of evidence-based interventions.
• Controversies and criticism of evidence-based practice.

Written by internationally well-respected experts, this text is an important read for all those with an interest in the area, from social work students to academics and researchers.

Haluk Soydan is Associate Dean of Research and Director of the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services at the University of Southern California, USA.

Lawrence A. Palinkas is the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health at the University of Southern California, USA.