Institutionalising science‐based practices in children's services
| Pages | 32-43 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200800025 |
| Date | 10 July 2008 |
| Published date | 10 July 2008 |
| Author | Laura Hill,Louise Parker,Jenifer McGuire,Rayna Sage |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
32 Journal of Children’s Services
Volume 3 Issue 4 December 2008
© Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
1 Extension and
Department of
Human Development,
Washington State
University, US
2 Department of
Human Development,
Washington State
University, US
3 Department
of Sociology,
Washington State
University, US
Abstract
Over the past 30 years, researchers have documented effective, theory-based programmes and practices
that improve the health and well-being of children. In order to produce measurable improvements in
public health, such practices must be institutionalised; however, there are a number of barriers to
translating what we know from science to what we do in practice. In the present article, we discuss a
number of those barriers, including: cultural differences between those who espouse a public health,
prevention science approach versus those who espouse a strengths-building, health promotion approach;
practical difficulties in documenting the evidence base for existing or newly developed programmes
and practices; and inflexibility of standardised programmes and resulting insensitivity to local contexts.
We discuss common ground between prevention and promotion perspectives and highlight emerging
methods that facilitate the adoption of science-based practice into community-based services.
Key words
Evidence-based practice; evidence-based programmes; translational research; prevention; dissemination.
Establishing that a practice is evidence-
based is accomplished through application of
systematic inquiry and has gained importance
in response to these calls for accountability.
However, there are a number of significant barriers
to adoption of evidence-based programmes and
practices, not the least of which is a lack of clarity
in defining these terms. The goals of the present
article are:
to review some of the terminology related to
evidence-based practice and the process by
which a programme or practice is designated
‘evidence-based’
to discuss the advantages and disadvantages,
of and barriers to implementing, evidence-
based practices
to offer some recommendations for
overcoming those barriers.
Introduction
In recent years, social serv ice agencies and schools
have faced increasing demands for accountability
in the use of public and private resources (Hill &
Parker, 2005 ; Small, Cooney & O’Connor, 2009).
Government a nd private foundat ions may require
agencies to show evidence of quality control and
effectiveness; to use evidence -based programmes
or practices ; or both, as a condition of f unding. The
push to do cument effectiveness of programmes
and practice s, and to use them, is associate d
primarily wi th the failure o f some expensive social
programmes, especially in the era of the 196 0s
‘Great Socie ty’ policies, to demonstrate success
(Campbell, 1 970) and the ane cdotal nature of much
clinical pra ctice in medicine (Jacobson et al, 1997)
and in soc ial services.
Institutionalising science-
based practices in
children’s services
Laura G Hill1, Louise A Parker1, Jenifer K McGuire2 and Rayna Sage3
To continue reading
Request your trial