![]() Recognizing the variety of intervention types, and to advance their more precise definition and measurement, we proposed that interventions be distinguished in terms of their complexity. This definition foreshadowed the development of treatment manuals, lists of specific evidence-based practices, and calls for monitoring intervention fidelity. We defined interventions as practitioner behaviors that can be volitionally manipulated by practitioners (used or not, varied in intensity and timing), that are defined in detail, can be reliably measured, and can be linked to specific identified outcomes ( Rosen & Proctor, 1978 Rosen & Proctor, 1981). To advance testing the effectiveness of social work interventions, we drew distinctions between interventions and outcomes and proposed these two constructs as the foci for effectiveness research. Teaching interventions requires an ability to name, define, see them in action, measure their presence (or absence), assess the fidelity with which they are delivered, and give feedback to students on how to increase or refine the associated skills. Social work education is all about equipping students with skills to deliver interventions, programs, services, administrative practices, and policies. Without specification, interventions cannot be taught. Such specification of interventions is essential to two professional responsibilities: professional education and demonstrating the effectiveness of the field’s interventions. ![]() Thus, in a series of papers, Rosen and I advocated that social work interventions be specified, clearly labeled, and operationally defined, measured, and tested. We recognized that gross descriptions of interventions obstruct professional training, preclude fidelity assessment, and prevent accurate tests of effectiveness. Moreover, interventions were not named, nor were their components clearly identified. Social work interventions were rarely specified beyond theoretical orientation or level of focus: casework (or direct practice) group work and macro practice, which included community, agency-level, and policy-focused practice. At that time, process and outcomes were jumbled and intertwined concepts. The first paper I coauthored with Aaron Rosen-“Specifying the Treatment Process: The Basis for Effectiveness Research” ( Rosen & Proctor, 1978)-provided a framework for evaluating intervention effectiveness. ![]() What Interventions and Services Are Most Effective?Īnswering the question “What services are effective?” requires rigorous testing of clearly specified interventions. My work seeks to improve the quality of social work practice by pursuing answers to three questions: In the words of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW n.d.), social work seeks to “champion social progress powered by science.” The research community needs to support practice through innovative and rigorous science that advances the evidence for interventions to address social work’s grand challenges. Social work’s future, its very survival, depends on our ability to deliver services with a solid base of evidence and to document their effectiveness. Policy and regulatory requirements increasingly demand that social work deliver and document the effectiveness of highest quality interventions and restrict reimbursement to those services that are documented as evidence based. Moreover, social work confronts these challenges as it is ethically bound to deliver high-quality services. ![]() Members of our profession are underpaid, and most of our agencies lack the data infrastructure required for rigorous assessment and evaluation. Our field may be distinct among professions for its efforts to ameliorate the toughest societal problems, experienced by society’s most vulnerable, while working from under-resourced institutions and settings. Social work addresses some of the most complex and intractable human and social problems: poverty, mental illness, addiction, homelessness, and child abuse.
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