What is an Evidence-Based Practice?

WHAT IS AN EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE?

Evidence-based practice involves the integration of four critical ingredients to guide and inform practice decisions. The goal is to use the most efficient interventions that have the strongest probability of success with consumers.

When selecting interventions standards are used to determine the strength of practice options. Options tend to fall into one of the following five categories of intervention.

  1. Evidence-based Practice. There are two or more randomized, controlled and well conducted outcome studies comparing the intervention to at least one alternative treatment.
  2. Best Practice. There is evidence of efficacy based on non-randomized intervention studies or other studies (including single subject design).
  3. Promising Practice. There is general acceptance or anecdotal evidence supporting the treatment but there has been no scientific testing of efficacy.
  4. Emerging Practice. Innovative interventions that don't appear to be harmful but have not been widely used or discussed in the professional literature.
  5. Questionable Practice. Intervention strategies that have the possibility to do harm, are unethical, or have poorly conceived theoretical assumptions.