Guided or independent? Social workers, central bureaucracy and evidence-based practice

Abstract

Since the start of the 1990s, a number of professional fields in the Western world have been confronted with increasingly explicit demands for scientific assurance regarding the effects of the work they do. The debate on the relationship between research and practice in social work has often been carried out under the heading of evidence-based social work or evidence-based practice (EBP). This article is based on a survey distributed to a representative sample of social workers and middle managers within the Swedish municipal social services. The results indicate a generally positive attitude among Swedish social workers towards EBP; at the same time they show a low level of active contact with the research literature of relevance for EBP. The results are contextualized and discussed against the background of some major methodological issues in EBP, such as, for example, the so called Dodo bird verdict in psychotherapy outcome research.