Novel tools and resources for evidence‐based practice in psychology

Abstract

Given the vast proliferation of scientific research in the behavioral and social sciences, there is a growing need for psychologists to be able to access the most current, clinically relevant research quickly and efficiently and integrate this information into patient care. In response to a similar need within the field of medicine, evidence-based medicine took hold in the early 1990s to provide both a framework and set of skills for translating research into practice. Since then, this method has been adopted by every major health care profession including psychology, and is now widely known as evidence-based practice (EBP). In this article, the authors present a general overview of the skills required for EBP along with an introduction to some of the tools and resources that have been developed in other health care professions to support EBP. Using a case example, we illustrate how these tools and resources can be applied in psychological settings.