Practice-based research:changing the professional culture and language of social work

Practice-based evaluation integrates research skills and techniques into the clinical process in order to correlate clinical interventions with treatment outcomes. Although most clinicians recognize the importance of some form of practice evaluation, barriers including lack of time, resources, expertise, and organizational support may deter such evaluation efforts. However, there are numerous advantages for clinicians and agencies to develop a culture that values and integrates practice evaluation into its daily work-life; these include opportunities for teamwork, collaboration, mentoring, and innovation. This paper defines practice evaluation research, identifies strategies for its implementation, and describes a framework for creating a "research friendly" culture. It further describes the implementation of such an innovative program in both a hospital and a mental health agency setting.