Synopses & Reviews
Praise for the previous edition"An extraordinary and important book. Its approach to evidence-based practice (EBP) is very sound, realistic, and generous to the complexities of everyday practice. Reading and using this book is a must."
Haluk Soydan, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Southern California
"This book has the potential to change practice in the helping professions. Rather than focusing on how to conduct research, Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice instead shows readers how to understand the literature.... [The] generous use of humor and the inclusion of simple, practice-relevant examples make this book a pleasure to read."
Aron Shlonsky, PhD, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
"I particularly like the integration of research methods and EBP; this is the book's major innovation in my mind as it allows readers to see the connections between research and practice. [The book] also succeeds by taking very complex EBP principles and explaining them in practical terms."
Jeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver
Hands-on guidance for research-informed practice and practice-informed research
Now in a second edition, Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice offers a clinician-oriented approach to appraising and using research as part of the EBP process. This accessible guide presents essential and practical guidance on how to integrate research appraisal into EBP endeavors to determine which interventions, policies, and assessment tools are supported by the best evidence.
It introduces:
- Increased attention to macro-level EBP questions and studies
- New discussion on defining EBP, including the addition of a transdisciplinary model of EBP
- More detailed guidance on EBP question formulation and conducting Internet searches, including the PICO framework
- New content on multivariate designs, including propensity score matching, and on mixed-model and mixed-methods studies
Review
Praise for the first edition:"I particularly like the integration of research methods and EBP; this is the book's major innovation in my mind as it allows readers to see the connections between research and practice. Rubin also succeeds by taking very complex EBP principles and explaining them in practical terms."
—Jeffrey M. Jenson, Ph.D., University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work
"An extraordinary and important book. Its approach to evidence-based practice is very sound, realistic, and generous to the complexities of everyday practice. It provides an excellent practitioner's desk book to students and professionals who want to implement evidence-based practice. Reading and using this book is a must."
—Haluk Soydan, Ph.D., University of Southern California, School of Social Work
"Rubin keeps the reader engaged in a topic that otherwise might have been less than exciting. This book is informative to old-timers like me and I would imagine to those new to the research enterprise and evidence-based practice. Allen Rubin has done it again! Another fine contribution to research and the advancement of evidence-based practice."
—Kevin Corcoran, Ph.D., J.D., Portland State University, School of Social Work
"This book has the potential to change practice in the helping professions. Rather than focusing on how to conduct research, the Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice instead shows readers how to understand the literature.... This is a monumental shift. Evidence-based practice requires the use of evidence, yet students often struggle with interpreting what they find in the literature and will sometimes give up on the entire process. Rubin solves this dilemma by giving us a comprehensive yet readable text for the uninitiated and he does so in a manner that may even engage the uninterested. In particular, his generous use of humor and the inclusion of simple, practice relevant examples make this book a pleasure to read for students at almost any level. Imagine laughing while learning what you need to know about research! I never thought I'd see the day."
—Aron Shlonsky, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work
Review
"I believe that clinicians of all experience levels would do well to read this book. While some of the topics may be familiar to recent graduates, a review of the techniques for critically assessing research can never be anything but beneficial. Rubin's use of personal examples from his own clinical work brings the area into the real world. In addition, readers should find his inclusion of synopses, key chapter concepts, and exercises useful and informative." (PsycCritiques, August 2008)
Synopsis
Written by a proven author and top scholar in research methods, Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice gives essential and practical guidance on how to integrate research appraisal into evidence-based practice endeavors to ensure best client care. This practitioner-oriented book provides readers across the helping professions with the step-by-step skills they need to effectively appraise and use research as part of the evidence-based practice process. Readers will have the ability to integrate evidence-based treatments that improve the delivery of care and optimize treatment success as a result.
About the Author
Allen Rubin, Ph.D. is the Kantambu Latting College Professorship for Leadership and Change at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. He is the author of a number of best-selling titles in social work research and he currently serves as Chair of the Evidence-Based Practice track for the Council on Social Work Education. Dr. Rubin led an international symposium on Improving Teaching of EBP.Jennifer Bellamy, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Service Administration at The University of Chicago, where she has been a faculty member since 2008. She has numerous publications in the area of EBP in social work.
Table of Contents
PART I OVERVIEW OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
Chapter 2 STEPS IN THE EBP PROCESS
Chapter 3 RESEARCH HIERARCHIES: WHICH TYPES OF RESEARCH ARE BEST FOR WHICH QUESTIONS?
PART II CRITICALLY APPRAISING STUDIES FOR EBP QUESTIONS ABOUT INTERVENTION EFFECTIVENESS
Chapter 4 CRITERIA FOR INFERRING EFFECTIVENESS: HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WORKS?
Chapter 5 CRITICALLY APPRAISING EXPERIMENTS
Chapter 6 CRITICALLY APPRAISING QUASI-EXPERIMENTS: NONEQUIVALENT COMPARISON GROUPS DESIGNS
Chapter 7 CRITICALLY APPRAISING QUASI-EXPERIMENTS: TIME-SERIES DESIGNS AND SINGLE-CASE DESIGNS
Chapter 8 CRITICALLY APPRAISING SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS AND META-ANALYSES
PART III CRITICALLY APPRAISING STUDIES FOR ALTERNATIVE EBP QUESTIONS
Chapter 9 CRITICALLY APPRAISING NONEXPERIMENTAL QUANTITATIVE STUDIES
Chapter 10 CRITICALLY APPRAISING QUALITATIVE STUDIES
PART IV ASSESSING CLIENTS AND MONITORING THEIR PROGRESS
Chapter 11 CRITICALLY APPRAISING AND SELECTING ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS
Chapter 12 MONITORING CLIENT PROGRESS
APPENDIX A Illustrative Answers to Selected Review Exercises
APPENDIX B What You Do and Don’t Need to Know about Statistics When Critically Appraising Studies
Glossary
References