Promoting Evidence-Informed Practice: The BASSC Perspective

1. Promoting Evidence-Informed Practice:The BASSC Perspective Michael J. Austin, PhD, MSW, MSPH BASSC Staff Director Mack Professor of Nonprofit Management School of Social Welfare University of California, Berkeley 1

2. BASSC Bay Area Social Services Consortium (1987-2007) County Social Service Agencies (11) University Social Work Education Programs (5) Think Tank *Research *Training *Policy Analysis Foundations (2) 2

3. Searching for Evidence to Inform Practice (SCIE, London) A • PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT • Practice Guides • Policy/Program Guides • KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT • Structured Literature Reviews • Practice Surveys C B • DISSEMINATION & UTILIZATION • Evidence-Informed Training • Evidence-Informed Education • Access to Web-based Database 3

4. Evidence-Informed PracticeA Partnership Between Researchers and Practitioners • Assessing Recent Research for • Rigor • Relevance • Application • Assessing Current Agency Practice • Use of administrative data • Documentation of promising practices • Evaluation of current practice • Building Organizational Cultures of Learning • Experimentation and information gathering • Search for promising practices and lessons from the past • Understand knowledge transfer and sharing (tacit and explicit) 4

5. Nature of Knowledge Tacit/Explicit, Accessible, Synthesized, & Analyzed Knowledge Sharing Motivation to Share Lifelong learning, trust, risk-taking, identify first adopters Opportunities to Share Case conferences, staff meetings, community meetings, & training sessions 5

6. Definition of Knowledge Management ( KM ) • Using accessible knowledge • Embedding and storing knowledge • Representing knowledge in databases • Promoting knowledge growth • Sharing knowledge in an organization • Assessing the value of knowledge 6

7. Importance of KM • More restrictions and reduction in resources to manage our organizations • Exit of experienced county staff due to retirement/resignation requiring knowledge transfer and institutional history • Availability of new technology to collect, store and disseminate knowledge 7

8. Implementation of KM Stage 1 – Documentation of explicit knowledge (e.g., work practices, tools, business processes, strategic planning, community relations). Agency self-studies for accreditation. Stage 2 – Collection of tacit knowledge (e.g. best practices, informal resources, unique skills, community contacts) 8

9. Facilitating Learning of Others KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TEAM Integrating What Others Know into the Organization Managing What We Know Educating the Team 9

10. Managing What We Know Practitioner questions Consolidating questions Forming research questions Inventory of staff expertise Perceptions of promising practices Identifying evidence-informed decision making Promoting a culture of learning (supervisors and trainers) 10

11. Integrating What Others Know Communicating agency interests to university researchers Monitoring literature review or empirical study Disseminating and utilizing research findings Assessing the impact of evidence-informed practice on organizational outcomes Sharing assessment with top management and researchers Conducting annual assessment of the learning organization 11

12. Anticipating Barriers to Evidence-Informed Practice • Lack of time/resources due to heavy workloads • Lack of organizational support • Poor communications • Poor training • Lack of networking inside/outside the agency • Culture of blame can block experimentation • Insufficient staff development 12

13. Key Skills for Evidence-Informed Practice • Generic skills • Questioning practices within an environment of accountability • Effectively summarizing and presenting key messages • Capacity to access and assess evidence • Line staff skills • Critical thinking • Self-reflection (across caseload) • Help/consultation seeking • Systems assessment • Management skills • Group facilitation • Scheduling time, space, and technical assistance • Web-based access for documenting/sharing staff input • Articulating/celebrating staff success with EIP 13

14. Implementing Evidence-Informed Practice: What is the Evidence? * • The greatest INFLUENCE ON DECISION-MAKING • Published research • Locally collected administrative data • Views of service users • The PROCESS of accessing and understanding evidence needs more attention • All policy, planning, and training materials need to document the CONNECTION TO EVIDENCE • Additional TRAINING is needed to develop EIP skills and the capacity to serve as role models • A POLICY ON SUPERVISION can enhance the infusion of EIP, especially the use of team/unit meetings *Borratt, M. (2003). Organizational support for evidence-based practice within child and family social work: A collaborative study. Child and Family Social Work, 8, 143-150. 14

15. Evidence informed practice is both desirable and necessary to improve the quality and consistency of client services.See BASSC Profile in Conference Registration Packet for BASSC Publications on Evidence for Practice located at www.bassc.net and in our session this afternoon 15