As evidence-based practice is increasingly accepted in social work, the challenges associated with its actual implementation become more apparent and pressing. This article identifies implementation as a critical issue for research; implementation itself must be better understood if evidence-based practices are to be used and resultant improvements to practice are to be realized. Social work needs to engage more fully in (a) service system research and (b) implementation research, each of which complements and has potential to extend the benefits of efficacy and effectiveness research. Service system research can enhance the fit of empirically supported treatments to the needs of real-world practice and thus facilitate their implementation. Implementation studies examine the acceptability of evidence-based interventions, the feasibility and likelihood of their sustained use, and the decision-support procedures that can help practitioners apply probabilistically based, empirically supported treatments to the individual case in real-world practice.
Keywordsevidence-based practice; implementation research; service systems research; social work research Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been increasingly advocated and appears to be gaining acceptance in social work. It signifies reaffirmation of social work's commitment to a scientific knowledge base in general and, more specifically, to an expectation that practice decisions be informed by and based on evidence from scientific research. But thus far, advocacy for EBP has had little tangible impact on social work. Despite the growing recognition of its appropriateness, EBP is not routinely implemented in practice. Findings from studies of practitioners'use of research in practice, a primary component of EBP, have also been disappointing (Rosen, 1994;Rosen, Proctor, Morrow-Howell, & Staudt, 1995). The many difficulties in the use of research evidence in practice and thus, the implementation of EBP (Rosen, 2003) have only rarely been addressed constructively through systematic research.This article focuses on and encourages social work researchers to study the many issues related to implementation of scientific evidence in practice. Here, implementation refers to the use or employment by practitioners of pretested and empirically supported treatments (ESTs) to attain outcomes. For too long, implementation has been considered "after the fact" -that is, once ESTs are developed and tested. We believe that the challenges associated