Teaching Evidence-Based Practice: Toward a New Paradigm for Social Work Education

TLDR

Social work literature has expanded rapidly, with improved databases and systematic reviews making evidence‑based practice increasingly accessible and prompting educators to adopt a new paradigm that teaches students to identify, appraise, and apply scientific evidence. This article outlines the benefits of evidence‑based social work education and the school’s efforts to embed it throughout the curriculum. The authors describe how the George Warren Brown School of Social Work is implementing curriculum‑wide changes to support evidence‑based professional practice education.

Abstract

The scientific literature relevant to social work practice has grown expansively in recent years. Corollary developments, including the widespread availability of electronic bibliographic databases, improved indexing services, and increased acceptance of systematic reviews and evidence-based practice guidelines, have made research findings increasingly accessible to practitioners. For the first time in the history of the profession, social work educators are confronted with the challenges posed, and opportunities afforded, by this accumulating body of practice-relevant scientific information. Evidence-based practice is a new paradigm that promotes more effective social interventions by encouraging the conscientious, judicious, and explicit use of the best available scientific evidence in professional decision making. Pedagogically, evidence-based practice involves teaching students the values and skills they need to identify, critically appraise, and apply practice-relevant scientific evidence over the course of their professional careers. This article describes the potential benefits of evidence-based social work professional education and ongoing efforts of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University to implement curriculum-wide changes supportive of evidence-based professional practice education.