Evidence Informed Practice Decision Making and Evaluation

Social Work 635

Assignment 2: Evidence Informed Practice Decision Making and Evaluation (35% of Course Grade)

Due Unit 11

Building upon the first assignment, students will develop an evidence-based plan for intervention with the client identified in Assignment 1, including a plan for evaluation. The second assignment aims to demonstrate students’ ability to: 1) locate and appraise the available evidence regarding Evidence Based-Interventions (EBIs) and Evidence-Based Assessment (EBA) tools, selecting the best ones – using an Evidence-Based Practice decisionmaking approach – for use in a particular practice situation; and 2) develop plans for evaluation of change efforts in professional practice. To this end, students will develop a practice-focused paper in which they address a specific client situation, locating, appraising, and selecting the best EBI and EBA tool for use, subsequently creating a plan for evaluating their practice effectiveness. It will be necessary to do multiple literature searches to identify the necessary and appropriate scholarly evidence for this assignment.
Following is a summary of the required elements of the paper. It is suggested that students follow the bolded headings and subheadings as an outline.
Client Background and Problem Formulation: Provide a brief summary of your client and important background information. (You are welcome to draw from your first assignment for this). Discuss your formulation of the client’s problem(s) for which you will provide intervention. [What does your assessment and diagnostic impression tell you about how to conceptualize the problem?] Integrate two references from relevant scholarly literature to support your formulation. (approximately 1/2-1 page)
Selected Evidence-Based Intervention: Flowing from your problem formulation, conduct a search for suitable interventions and empirical evidence of their effectiveness. After considering each of the dimensions involved in evidence-based practice decisionmaking, provide a summary and critical appraisal of one EBI that you have determined to be the best intervention for use. The requested details and suggested outline follow. Be sure to include appropriate citations. (approximately 3-4 pages)
NOTE: The search should aim for an intervention that ideally has multiple experimental or at least quasi-experimental studies reporting some level of effectiveness. True documentation that an intervention is evidence-based occurs only when there is outcome data from a body of evaluative studies, indicating a positive change in the target behavior.
Also, please bear in mind that this section of the paper should address what is known about the intervention, as based on the body of available evidence supporting its effectiveness. It is not intended to be a summary of a single evaluative study.
Brief Intervention Summary – The intervention’s name, brief description, and summary of intervention procedures, including critical components that are essential for fidelity.
EBP Decisionmaking Factor: Best Available Evidence – Discuss the overall strength/rigor and extent of the body of empirical evidence examining the intervention; the outcomes for which the intervention has been demonstrated effective; the populations and settings examined; and intervention limitations.
EBP Decisionmaking Factor: Client Characteristics – Discuss the meaningful client-related factors you have identified, including dimensions of diversity, values, and preferences.
EBP Decisionmaking Factor: Resources/Practitioner – Discuss the meaningful practitioner and other resource-related considerations you have identified.
EBP Decisionmaking: Other Considerations – Please note any other considerations with implications for your decisionmaking, including specific agency- and/or broader environmental factors.

Plan for Evaluation of Intervention Outcomes: The final portion of the paper involves development of a specific practice evaluation plan wherein students will be able to assess the presence and extent of change that may be occurring, and to use the findings for ongoing practice decisionmaking. Following is a list of requested elements to be addressed. (approximately 3-4 pages, including diagram)

Outcome Objectives – Clearly state two specific outcome objectives for your work with your client. Objectives should be specified in measurable terms and consistent with your problem formulation and chosen intervention. (Ideally, this would be mutually identified, flowing from your agreed-upon treatment/care plan.) The objectives should follow SMART format or otherwise address the following dimensions: Direction (Do you want the measurement values to go up or down?), Level (At what level do you consider the objective to successful?), Duration (How long does the improvement need to be maintained to be considered successful?), and Time to completion (How long do you expect achieving the objective to take?)

Evidence Based Measurement Tool – For one of the outcome objectives, conduct a search of empirical evidence related to evidence-based assessment/measurement tools that would provide for evaluation of change in the target outcome over time. Select the tool that you believe is the best one for measuring change in this situation, based on consideration of the best available empirical evidence, along with client and contextual factors. The following details about the measure should be provided: measurement name and brief summary (# of items, purpose, etc.); established forms of reliability and validity; materials and administration method/steps; scoring and interpretation guidelines; and your rationale for selection of this measure, including an appraisal of the quality and applicability of the tool for use with your selected client in this particular practice situation, along with other factors considered in your decisionmaking. Be sure to include appropriate citations.

NOTE: Where feasible, please attach a copy of the selected tool as an appendix when submitting this assignment. (It will not be included in the page count.)

Evaluation Design and Plan for Data Collection – Briefly describe the type of single system design you would expect to use, along with an explanation for why the design would be most appropriate. Provide the details of your plan for collecting and tracking outcomes data.

Depiction and Interpretation of Data – Though actual data collection is not requested, please provide a graph of the way you think your client’s data would look in the case of a successful intervention, using mock data.

Assignment Guidelines
The assignment should not exceed 8 double-spaced pages in total, formatted as an APA style paper. Please use headings and subheadings to organize your paper, providing in-text citations and a reference list.
The evaluation of the assignment will be based on whether you addressed all aspects of the assignment, as well as the quality, clarity and completeness of your written work (graduate level writing, organization, flow, depth, mechanics of writing such as grammar, spelling, etc.).

Proofread your work and abide by the academic integrity guidelines. Students are encouraged to seek assistance from the writing coaches in Learning Support for proofreading and editing their work. Details are available at http://libguides.usc.edu/SOWKlearningsupport. It is expected that students will be responsible for submitting their own work and not the work of other students. If you study with other students, be conscious of shaping and writing your own paper. Please note: Turnitin automatically scans all papers upon submission to the platform. Students found to be in violation of the academic integrity guidelines may be referred for judicial review. An overview of the University’s guidelines on academic integrity can be found at the following URL: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/forms/AcademicIntegrityOverview.pdf

Submit the assignment on time. VAC students are requested to upload their assignment to the platform. On-ground instructors will decide upon the format of the submission: in-class, via Turnitin or emailed. The assignment will be penalized 4 points for each day it is late.