Suchergebnisse

This article presents an account of Sweden's Institute for Evidence-Based Social Work Practice (IMS), located in Stockholm, Sweden. The article places IMS in the context of making Swedish social care services less opinion-based and more evidence-based. The institute is an example of how policy-driven processes promote the use of evidence-based practices in this European nation. The article includes presentations of history, organization, and products of IMS, and concludes with comments on future opportunities and challenges.

Objective: A meta-analysis was undertaken to synthesize research results about the effectiveness of mainstream service programs for minority juvenile delinquents relative to White delinquents. The analysis addresses the question of whether mainstream interventions that are not culturally tailored for minority youth have positive outcomes on their subsequent antisocial behavior, academic performance, peer relations, behavior problems, and other outcomes. In addition, outcomes were compared with those for White samples receiving the same interventions to identify any differences in the responsiveness of minority and majority youth. Method: 305 studies were selected from a large meta-analytic database in which the participant samples were either predominantly (60% or more) minority or White youth. Effect sizes and more than 150 study descriptors were coded from these studies and analyzed using standard meta-analytic techniques. Results: The results showed positive overall intervention effects with ethnic minority respondents on their delinquent behavior, school participation, peer relations, academic achievement, behavior problems, psychological adjustment, and attitudes. Overall, service programs were equally effective for minority and White delinquents. Although there were slight differences in effectiveness for different service types between minority and majority youth, none of these differences was statistically significant. Conclusions: The use of mainstream service programs for ethnic minority juvenile delinquents without cultural tailoring is supported by these findings.

This article reports reflections from an international conference on evaluation as a tool in the development of social work discourse. The conference was organized with the purpose of presenting the state of the art to the Swedish social work research community. In this article, a number of major issues that were discussed at the conference are reported, including evaluation paradigms and preoccupations, the relationship between the social research community and practitioners, and some of the methods of evaluation research. The authors assess their understanding of the outcomes of the conference from national perspectives, and attempt to discuss similarities and differences between Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to describe several evidence-based clearinghouses focused on social work and related intervention outcomes, placing them in the context of how such clearinghouses can contribute to research dissemination to foster effective, evidence-based practice. Method: The study employed an analysis of data provided in clearinghouse Web sites and internal documentation. Results: The clearinghouses are Web-based portals where quality controlled scientific evidence of what works, what is promising, or what is possibly harmful in professional practice and policy interventions is made available to professionals, decision makers, and the general public in accessible and transparent language and format. Conclusions: Evidence-based clearinghouses in social work are promising vehicles of bringing high-quality evidence to professionals, decision makers, and other end users.

This article describes the development, organization, and operation of the Campbell Collaboration, an international network of academics and practitioners who prepare, maintain, and make accessible authoritative systematic reviews of the effectiveness of interventions in the fields of social welfare, education, and criminal justice. The Campbell Collaboration is modeled after the successful Cochrane Collaboration, established in 1993 to produce reviews of the evidence relating to the effectiveness of services in the field of health care. The aim of such reviews is to provide practitioners with a summary of the best available empirical evidence on which to base practice decisions.

In response to the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) within five U.S. cities, the CSEC Community Intervention Project (CCIP) was created to enhance collaboration among nongovernmental organization (NGO) representatives, law enforcement officials and prosecutors in Chicago, Atlantic City, Denver, Washington, D.C., and San Diego. A total of 211 participants were surveyed during a 3-day CCIP training institute held in each city. Evaluation data suggest that participants were positively influenced in their knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding CSEC. Our findings inform NGO representatives, law enforcement officials, and prosecutors of the importance of professional training and the benefits of cross-disciplinary collaboration in addressing CSEC.

Soziale Arbeit lebt als Disziplin und Profession von der ständigen Weiterentwicklung des in und mit ihr geteilten Wissens. Forschung, Theoriebildung, Lehre und Praxis bilden hierbei ein komplexes Gefüge im gesellschaftlichen Kontext. Der Band nimmt die verschiedenen Relationen in den Blick: Wo, von wem und in welcher Weise wird Wissen der Sozialen Arbeit gebildet, weiterentwickelt und geteilt? Und um welche Arten von Wissen geht es dabei?