Trauma professionals' attitudes toward and utilization of evidence-based practices.
Trauma clinicians cheer for evidence-based practices but rarely use them—check actions, not words.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Stancliffe et al. (2007) sent a survey to trauma clinicians. They asked how much the staff liked evidence-based practices and whether they actually used them.
The goal was simple: see if good feelings about science turn into real science on the job.
What they found
Most workers said, "Yes, EBPs are great." But the same workers rarely picked empirically supported treatments when they treated clients.
Support in the head did not reach the hands.
How this fits with other research
Blydenburg et al. (2016) asked BACB program directors the same style of question. Directors also admitted their classes skip key science areas. The attitude-behavior gap shows up again, this time in ABA training.
Malott (2018) answered the gap with a fix: teach practitioners to open JABA and JEAB first, not agency policy manuals. The 2007 survey gives the reason the 2018 model was needed.
Diz et al. (2011) looked at one popular package, active support, and found too little proof to call it evidence-based. Their finding warns us: if staff reach for weak packages while ignoring stronger ones, the attitude-behavior gap hurts clients twice.
Why it matters
Stop trusting verbal endorsements. Watch what your team does in the treatment room, the staff meeting, and the data sheet. Build checklists that require staff to show the research behind their plan, not just say they like it. One quick win: start each supervision by asking, "Which JABA article supports the procedure we ran today?" If no one can name one, you just spotted the gap in action.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study was designed to evaluate attitudes toward and utilization of evidence-based practices (EBPs) among mental health professionals specializing in trauma. An Internet survey was completed by 461 trauma professionals who were recruited via International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies membership rolls and electronic mailing lists of trauma special interest groups. Although a minority of participants held negative views of EBPs, the overwhelming majority of respondents were supportive of the EBP movement. Theoretical orientation, training model, and age were associated with EBP attitudes. Favorable EBP attitudes were not as strongly related to reported clinical behaviors as might reasonably be expected. Even respondents utilizing unsupported treatments espoused positive EBP opinions, suggesting that practitioners may hold widely varying evidentiary standards.
Behavior modification, 2007 · doi:10.1177/0145445507302877