AC client New York Foundling at the forefront of Evidence Based Practices
“Evaluation Must Join Innovation When Using Evidence-Based Practices”
For those of us who have been at the forefront of the adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for treating at-risk youth and families, the debate among professionals in this field has taken an interesting turn. With EBPs yielding excellent results in a variety of environments and across cultural settings, it now seems as if the composition of the model itself has become the focal point of debate.
Why not treat EBPs as a base, some argue, and adapt it to account for community, cultural or other population differences? “We know our population,” the argument seems to go, “and shouldn’t view EBPs as a one-size-fits-all solution.” While that argument sounds reasonable, it actually presents a number of issues and has the potential to undermine the credibility of the EBP movement through subjectivity, opacity and inconsistency.
