April 2013Vol. 14, No. 3Implementing Evidence-Based Practice
As the child welfare field continues to move toward employing evidence-based practice models and interventions, much focus is being placed on best practices for integrating and implementing these programs. Using the principles of implementation science to successfully transfer the lessons learned from evidence-based practice models into programs that deliver effective services was the focus of a 1-day symposium at the University of California, Davis campus.
At the symposium, "Implementation Science: Closing the Gap Between Innovation and Practice," human services professionals, which included workers from the fields of education, mental health, child welfare, and criminal justice, participated in a series of workshops and facilitated discussion groups to learn how to use implementation science to build effective programs. The topics of the workshops included models of implementation science, building organizational structures to support implementation, and adapting the innovations identified in evidence-based practice models to specific program needs.
Documents from the symposium, including the program, PowerPoint presentations and handouts from many of the workshops, and a resource guide, are now available from the website of the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC):
