Applying Evidence-Based Practice in Group Work at an Alternative High School

Abstract

Social workers often are reluctant to use evidence-based practice in group work. Part of this reluctance is because of the perceived rigidity of the process and its emphasis on research. However, social workers can rely on the four cornerstones of evidence-based practice-research, clinical experience, personal views, and client's perspective-to provide an evidence-based group intervention. In this article, the authors illustrate how social workers used the four cornerstones at one alternative high school to provide an evidence-based group intervention. These cornerstones were used from the beginning of the process, which started with choosing the type of intervention, through the end of the process, which concluded with assessing the intervention. In this article, the authors show that it is possible for social workers to provide an evidence-based group intervention, while remaining flexible, thereby contributing to social workers' knowledge of how to use evidence-based practice with groups.

Requirements for applying Evidence-Based Social Group Work as a strategy to boost the Professional Performance of Social Workers engaging with Patient Groups

“…The professional preparation of medical social workers who engage in evidence-based practice necessitates that they should have many requirements that they need to master and train in so as to be able to handle different patient and treatment groups Study (Weller, 2015) pointed out that group workers, functioning in EB group work, are indeed meant to adhere to four major constituents: research, experience, personal views, and a group member . Study (Pollio, 2008) introduced a set of steps for evidence processing that a group worker can undertake: assessing the evidence gathered, acquiring knowledge drawn from reading academic journals, evaluating practice results, applying models by practitioners, and deciphering the effect of individual differences.…”