Library Guides: Social Work: Evidence-Based Resources

Critical Appraisal

Critically appraising articles is vital to evaluating best practice for your population. There are many resources and checklists that can be used to critically appraise for clinical significance such as these CASP Checklists.

Common questions to ask when critically appraising an article:

Was the sample size large enough to generalize the results?
Are the results statistically significant?
Are the results clinically significant? (Look at the confidence intervals in the article).
Did the authors address potential bias in the study?
Did the researchers identify confounding variables? How did they control for this?

In addition to appraising the research methodology and quality of the article, social workers should also consider the clinical application to their individual client and client population. Below are some questions to ask before, while, and after reading articles.

Before reading

Do I know my client’s history, culture, priorities?
Am I making assumptions?
Am I using an accurate search strategy to describe the context and history of my clients’ problems? (e.g., “racism AND health”or “structural racism AND mental health” or “racial discrimination AND mental health”)
Am I adequately prepared to assess the research?
Am I using a broad range of knowledge sources and strategies for ways of knowing about a client?
Do I want this to be true? (This question helps you identify your own bias).

During reading

Am I documenting questions that arise?
Is the client’s experience reflected in the research?
Am I noting any structural racism or health inequities in the practices proposed in this article?
Does the intervention include any internalized scripts of racial, gender or other superiority and inferiority?
Are there cultural or power contexts that need to be considered?

After reading

Am I using multiple perspectives/disciplines to better understand the problem?
Do I still need to know more about the language, customs, history or context to better understand the problem?
If I act on the evidence, am I contributing to dismantling structural racism, power inequities?
If I move forward with these practices am I contributing to create conditions where my client can thrive?

Library Databases for Evidence-Based Research

These databases are either solely evidence-based or at least allow for limiting to evidence-based articles.

APA Databases (APA PsycNET) - search all APA Databases via Ebsco This link opens in a new window
From the American Psychological Association.
Designed as a gateway to the American Psychological Association's databases and designed for locating scholarly literature from the early 1800s to the present. It covers journals, books, chapters, dissertations, conference presentations, technical reports, white papers, standards, policies, book reviews, and more.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health This link opens in a new window
Nursing and Allied Health Literature covers topics related to social work, public health, and mental health.
Authoritative source of information for the professional literature of nursing, allied health, biomedicine, and healthcare. Provides references to journal articles, books, book chapters, pamphlets, audiovisuals, dissertations, educational software, selected conference proceedings, standards of professional practice, and more. Some full-text material is included.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
Provides the full-text of regularly updated systematic reviews.
Primarily focuses on health care topics (including mental health).
Includes full text of the regularly-updated systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare prepared by The Cochrane Collaboration. The reviews are presented in two types: Complete reviews - regularly-updated Cochrane Reviews, prepared and maintained by Collaborative Review Groups; and Protocols - protocols for reviews currently being prepared (all include an expected date of completion). Protocols are the background, objectives and methods of reviews in preparation.
ERIC This link opens in a new window
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education. Since 1966, ERIC has indexed journals, research reports, conference papers, curriculum guides and publications of organizations. Full-text of older ERIC documents (non-journal material) are often available on microfiche; note the Accession Number beginning with ED in the ERIC record. The ERIC microfiche is located on the Regenstein B-level.
Evidence Based Mental Health This link opens in a new window
A journal published by the British Psychological Society, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and BMJ.
Published by the British Psychological Society, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and BMJ. The Journal aims to engage psychiatrists and psychologists, particularly younger professionals, in the challenge of basing their practice on evidence.
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Social Work This link opens in a new window
Search for subject and evidence-based. For example, ptsd and evidence-based
Regularly updated annotated bibliography addressing themes and topics in Social Work
Oxford Handbooks Online in Psychology This link opens in a new window
Search for subject and "evidence-based". For example, ptsd and "evidence-based".
Brings together leading scholars to discuss research and the latest thinking on a range of psychology topics. Each Handbook offers introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship. The articles review the key issues and major debates, and provide an argument for how those debates might evolve.
PILOTS This link opens in a new window
Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It provides citations and abstracts to the international literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health sequelae of traumatic events.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Indexes over 4,000 biomedical, nursing, dentistry and related journals,
Provides access to citations and full text articles from the biomedical literature (medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care, and the preclinical sciences). PubMed includes MEDLINE (mid 1960s-present), OLDMEDLINE (1950-1965), in-process citations (not yet indexed).
Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Since 1980, provides bibliographic coverage of research on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Abstracts and indexes including citations to dissertations and book reviews.

Evidence-Based Practice Websites with Free Content

Campbell Collaboration (Register of Campbell Systematic Reviews) This link opens in a new window
The Campbell Collaboration is an international research network that produces systematic reviews of the effects of social interventions in Crime & Justice, Education, International Development, and Social Welfare.

Cochrane Library
Primarily systematic reviews on health care topics (including mental health).
This free version provides access to some full-text content.
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.
Note: Within the "Advanced Search" option you may limit your search to "Show only results with free full text directly from ERIC."
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ERIC - the Education Resources Information Center - is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC provides ready access to education literature to support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research.
OJJDP Model Programs Guide (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)
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The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) Model Programs Guide (MPG) contains information about evidence-based juvenile justice and youth prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. It is a resource for practitioners and communities about what works, what is promising, and what does not work in juvenile justice, delinquency prevention, and child protection and safety.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Published Recommendations
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine.
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The Task Force works to improve the health of all Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications. All recommendations are published on the Task Force’s Web site and/or in a peer-reviewed journal.
TRIP Database (Turning Research Into Practice)
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Content is identified using a variety of methods, all follow the principles of evidence based medicine. TRIP works with the Department of Family Medicine at Laval University, Quebec, Canada to help identify and appraise sites using a directory that features over 100 critically appraised websites that mainly offer critically appraised topics (CATs) or original articles, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs).
Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center
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The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is an evidence-based repository and review system designed to provide the public with reliable information on mental health and substance abuse interventions. All interventions in the registry have met NREPP's minimum requirements for review. The programs' effects on individual outcomes have been independently assessed and rated by certified NREPP reviewers.

For more evidence-based websites see the following lists:

Websites for Evidence-Based Social Work (Washington University Library)
Social Work Policy Institute Resources on Evidence-Based Practice

EBP Books in the Library

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has proven to be the most effective form of treatment for social anxiety disorder. This revision of a highly regarded treatment manual presents an original treatment approach that includes specifically designed interventions to strengthen the relevant CBT strategies.

Outpatient Treatment of Psychosis

This book offers a practitioner's guide to evidence-based practice in working with psychotic patients in an outpatient setting by clinicians and scholars who are internationally recognized for their work in treating severe psychopathology.

Client-Centered Evaluating

This highly accessible evaluation text encourages students to evaluate their practice from multiple points of view, without the use of statistics. It encourages the client's active participation in evaluation by asking: "Are these the results you wanted in resolving your concern?" and builds on single-case design.

Critical Thinking in Clinical Practice

The knowledge and skills of critical thinking, evidence-based practice, problem solving, judgment, and decision making are essential to effectively serve clients in all types of clinical practices. This book teaches clinicians and students how to avoid fallacies and biases in thinking as well as the skills to make well-informed, ethical decisions.

A Guide to Treatments That Work

A Guide to Treatments That Work offers detailed chapters that review the latest research on pharmacological and psychosocial treatments that work for the full range of psychiatric and psychological disorders, written in most instances by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists who have been major contributors to that literature.

Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice

Written by a proven author and top scholar in research methods, Practitioner's Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice gives essential and practical guidance on how to integrate research appraisal into evidence-based practice endeavors to ensure best client care.