Evidence-Based Practice: An Exploration of the Effectiveness of Voluntary Sector Services for Victims of Community Violence

While there is some debate about what should be considered submissible evidence, there is no doubt that evidence-based practice has become accepted as a benchmark for service delivery in almost all areas of social work. This is not yet the case in the voluntary sector. Yet, social workers and servic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The British journal of social work 2008-12, Vol.38 (8), p.1630-1647
Main Authors: Dillenburger, Karola, Fargas, Montserrat, Akhonzada, Rym
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
BDI-II
Befriending
Communities
Community based programmes
Community health care
Community Services
Community violence
community-based services
Depression (Psychology)
Depressive disorders
DISC
Evidence Based Practice
GHQ-30
Health Care Services
Human Service Organizations
Mental health
Northern Ireland
PDS
Post traumatic stress disorder
Sexual violence
Social work
Statistical significance
The Troubles
Trauma
Victim services
Victims
Victims of crime
Violence
Violent crime
Voluntary organizations
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Summary:While there is some debate about what should be considered submissible evidence, there is no doubt that evidence-based practice has become accepted as a benchmark for service delivery in almost all areas of social work. This is not yet the case in the voluntary sector. Yet, social workers and service users rely heavily on voluntary sector services. In this paper, the effectiveness of voluntary sector services for victims of community violence is explored. Using Northern Ireland as a case in point, a time-series study was carried out with seventy-five service users who completed a research inventory (including GHQ-30, BDI-II and PDS) up to four times across a nine to twelve-month period. Additional stressful life events that occurred during this time period were considered and social validity of services was assessed. The results showed that despite detrimental effects of additional life stresses, psychological health and depression scores improved for all service users. Some community-based services (befriending) and some complementary therapies (reflexology) were significantly related to these improvements. Changes in post-traumatic stress disorder symptom severity were not significant. Social validity data were strongly in favour of voluntary sector services.
ISSN:0045-3102
1468-263X
DOI:10.1093/bjsw/bcm071