Power, status and marginalisation: Rural social workers and evidence-based practice in multidisciplinary teams

Abstract

The present paper examines how evidence-based practice (EBP) is impacting on the professional status of social workers working in multidisciplinary health teams in rural Victoria. Questionnaires and interviews were used to investigate the use and perceived appropriateness of EBP and the implications for the professional status of social workers. The results indicated that social workers have the lowest levels of knowledge and application of EBP. The qualitative data revealed a fundamental incompatibility between social work practice approaches and the science of EBP. The key themes identified were: how undergraduate and professional training shapes practitioner perspectives around EBP; divergent knowledge of EBP and how this influences team perceptions around the validity of social work practice; the ways EBP validates and reinforces existing power hierarchies, frequently to the exclusion of social work practitioners; the power of EBP as a mechanism for practice legitimisation; the marginalisation of social work as a discipline resisting the science of EBP; and the way the rural context shapes the impact of EBP in the practice setting.