EBP Research and Reduction of Health Disparities March 27, 2007
Posted by rickbarth in Uncategorized.trackback
A fascinating paper written by George Rust (Morehead) and Lisa Cooper (JHU) proposes an array of ways that practice research can be improved to provide information that can more rapidly and assuredly address health disparities. The suggestions range from those related to the make up of the research team, to new research designs, to strategies for implementing ESIs that include components at all levels of the social ecology. I highly recommend it. The citation (not in APA format, I’m afriad) and url follow:
George Rust, MD, MPH and Lisa A. Cooper, MD, MPH
How Can Practice-based Research Contribute to the Elimination of Health Disparities? The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 20 (2): 105-114 (2007)
http://www.jabfm.org/cgi/reprint/20/2/105
I just finished reading the article also last week and I agree that it was a great article. I have forwarded it to a number of my colleagues working on the evidence-based practices issues. I especially liked the strategy #11 - “Demand scientific rigor but redefine scientific rigor to include new methods for measuring impact in complex, dynamic systems.” This is an area that I think social work should really try to focus on. We should never give up rigorous research methods— but we must recognize that randomized control trials can only get us so far and we need to broaden the definition of what we mean by rigor. If we are serious about having the research make an impact on changing practice at the direct service level, we need to move towards more participatory research approaches/ utilization-focused research working in partnership with communities we are trying to study, and have them “own” the research questions as suggested in this article. We need rigor AND relevance— and we need to identify, create, teach, and disseminate more of these types of approaches to the field.
I also suggest reading Bent Flyvberg’s Making Social Science Matter (2001, Cambridge University Press). In the book , he argues that “the strength of social sciences lies in their rich, reflexive analysis of values and power.” And he argues that social science should move towards a “phronetic social science” or science based on practical wisdom. He makes lots of other important points about the futility of trying to be like the natural sciences and gives some specific examples of the type of research he is promoting.
Thanks!
Melissa
Melissa: This is a very helpful post. I agree that we have to become more precise about the ways that “ways of knowing” can inform the development and dissemination of ESIs and can also help frame progress toward evidence-based practices and policies. I think that participant action research may offer some ideas with regard to seeding the ground for uptake. I’m looking forward to obtaining and reading this book.
Rick