Making evidence-based practice actionable in the social service context: experiences and implications of workplace education

Abstract

Purpose Research and experience show that evidence-based practice (EBP), i.e. using the best available knowledge in daily professional work, is difficult to achieve in social services. The purpose of this study is to understand the development of organizational EBP learning processes in daily work through workplace education for staff and managers of supported homes for people with cognitive disabilities. The authors examine how the EBP model and new knowledge are understood and made actionable in the workplace, applying theories of organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach The authors used empirical material collected from an EBP workplace education pilot in Sweden, as well as documents on national EBP implementation in Swedish social services. Before the pilot, a focus group interview was conducted with regional senior managers. Participating managers and staff were individually interviewed two to three years after the pilot. Findings The study illustrates how knowledge-based action emerged from education where EBP was interpreted, understood, reflected on, and tested, supported by codified EBP tools in the work context. The participants, when supervised, and when observing and questioning their own behaviors in practice, contributed to double-loop learning (DLL) processes. Codification of EBP knowledge into useful tools and socialization processes during education and workplace meetings was crucial in developing individual and group DLL and knowledge-based actions. Originality/value The bottom-up approach to EBP development and the adaptive contextual learning at the workplace gave new insights into organizational learning in social service workplaces.

Evidence-Based Social Sciences and Practices: A Scoping Review

“…Evidence-based medicine has been developing since the 1990s to offer a new methodology and approach to evidence transferred and incorporated in other sciences (Schwarz & Tilling, 2023;Reiss, 2016;Mahmoudi et al, 2024;. The first publications on specific issues of evidence-based social sciences and practices first appeared on the turn of the century (Ackers, 2000;Humphries, 2003).…”

“…Practices and hierarchy of evidence across disciplines and sectors are subject to great variance. All sectors and disciplines seem to be studied individually (Harris & Williams, 2019;den Heyer, 2022;Schwarz & Tilling, 2023). The pilot searches of the Scopus database, Semantic scholar, and Research Gate have found neither reviews of evidence-based sciences, nor research on the evidence-based methodology in social sciences across disciplines.…”