Evidence-Based Group Work in Community Settings

There has been a strong recent trend towards incorporating evidence into Social Work practice in general, and into group work in particular. This trend has focused on the education of students in the use of evidence, development of evidence-based interventions, and discussion of how evidence can be used to improve practice. A limitation of most of this literature is that it has been written by researchers for the consumption of practitioners, limiting the ability of evidence-based practices to be incorporated into unique community settings and with specific populations. In spite of this difficulty, implementation of evidence-based practices continues quietly in practice settings.
This book describes efforts to integrate evidence into community settings, which have two foci. The first part details group models developed through collaborations between researchers and community agencies. Each chapter details efforts to implement, research, or review programs in community settings. The second part deals with issues around instruction and dissemination of evidence-based group work into practice settings. The volume makes a significant contribution to the discussion about evidence-based group work.
This book was published as a special issue of Social Work with Groups.

David E. Pollio, LCSW PhD, is the Hill Crest Foundation Endowed Chair and Director of Research at the University of Alabama School of Social Work. He has more than 25 years experience as a group work provider and researcher for adolescent and adult populations.
Mark J. Macgowan, LCSW, PhD, is with the School of Social Work at Florida International University in Miami and is Associate Director of the University’s Community-Based Intervention Research Group. He has twenty-five years of group work practice and research experience, primarily with adolescents and with culturally-diverse populations.

1. Introduction 2. REAL Groups: The Design and Immediate Effects of a Prevention Intervention for Latino Children Flavio F. Marsiglia, Verónica Peña, Tanya Nieri, and Julie L. Nagoshi 3. Implementing Evidence-Based Multiple-Family Groups with Adolescent Substance Abusers Douglas C. Smith PhD and James A. Hall PhD 4. "I'm not lazy, it’s just that I learn differently": Development and implementation of a manualized school-based group for students with LD" Faye Mishna, PhD, Barbara Muskat, PhD and Judith Wiener, PhD 5. Releasing the Steam: An Evaluation of the Supporting Tempers, Emotions, and Anger Management (STEAM) program for Elementary and Adolescent Aged Children Bruce A. Bidgood, PhD, Heather Wilkie, BSc and Annette Katchaluba, MSW 6. Autism Spectrum Disorders: Building Social Skills in Group, School, and Community Settings Amie Williams, PhD and Laura Grofer Klinger 7. The andragogy of evidence-based group work: An integrated educational model David E. Pollio and Mark J. Macgowan 8. Finding and Integrating the Best Available Evidence into the Group Work Field Practicum: Examples and Experiences from M.S.W. Students Mark J. Macgowan 9. "We may not like it but we guess we have to do it": Bringing Agency-Based Staff on Board with Evidence-Based Group Work Barbara Muskat, PhD, RSW, Faye Mishna, PhD, RSW, Fataneh Farnia, PhD and Judith Wiener, PhD 10. Teaching Evidence-Based Practice to Administrative Groups: The Professional Academy of Evidence-Based Practice Stephanie Krauss, M.Ed and Barbara Levin 11. Motivating Clients in Treatment Groups Sheldon D. Rose and Heesuk Chang