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Counselling and Health Communication: Evidence Based Research

Guide to resources for counselling and therapeutic communication students and staff at the University of Ulster.

Getting started

Evidence based research is an extension of basic literature searching but it is looking specifically for resources or articles upon which decisions can be made based on clear evidence of the efficacy or otherwise of a particular treatment or intervention. 

Evidence based practice (EBP) is more commonly found in clinical subjects such as medicine or nursing, but social work practitioners and researchers are beginning to collate and make available empirical evidence within the social care framework.

If you need to know more about Evidence Based Research, take a look at the guide produced by the Library's Life and Health Sciences team. It is extremely detailed, very informative and highly recommended.

Databases particularly good for EBP

While most databases will find information which is evidential-based, some databases are especially useful for this type of research. They will veer more towards the life and health sciences topics but will also contain research articles relating to more "soft sciences", such as social work.

Recommended Internet sources

Useful books about Evidence Based Practice

Featured site - SCIE - highly recommended

 

SCIE has devoted considerable effort to making available high quality information relating to evidence based research. The Developing Skills and Services dropdown menu has multiple subjects including:

Managing Knowledge and Research which specifically contains:

Knowledge Management Resources - publications and research documents, covering issue such as "Types and quality of knowledge in social care" and other issues.

Systematic Research Reviews  contains a series of documents from 2003 onwards, including one on Guidelines for Systematic Reviews

Research  Mindedness contains resources looking at why research is important to social care and to whom it is important; information on ethics of research; how to find information and assess its quality and a series of useful reference links if you want to find out more.

Under the ELearning Resources section are a series of tutorials and practice based elements showing how information (of all types, levels and formats) is essential in the day to day life of someone working within social work or social care.