Using Research to Enhance Your Practice
Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, PhD
Executive Director: AllCEUs.com, Counselor Education and Training
Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox & Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery
Objectives
~ Review statistical terms and concepts
~ Explore the reasons to use research
~ Identify places to review research
Reasons to Use Research
~ Identify new treatments that can benefit your clients
~ Evaluate the veracity of claims about treatment effectiveness
~ Example 1
~ Ensure existing treatment approaches are effective with your client population
~ Use research methods to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your practice
Terms
~ Validity
~ Reliability
~ Population
~ Sample size
~ Blind and double blind studies
~ A/B/A Design
~ Regression analysis
~ Strength of relationship between two or more variables
~ Meta Analyses
Evaluating Programs and Instruments
~ Confidence Interval
~ “The confidence interval represents values for the population for which the difference between the parameter and the observed estimate is not statistically significant at the 5% level”.
~ Effect size
~ an effect size of 0.44 means that the score of the average person in the experimental group is 0.44 standard deviations above the average person in the control group, and hence exceeds the scores of 66% of the control group
Where to Find Research
~ PubMed
~ Search
~ Filter
~ Directory of Open Source Journals
~ Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook
~ Tests In Print
~ Evidence Based and Promising Practices
~ Google Scholar (depression treatment)
~ Example 1
Where to Find Research
~ SAMHSA
~ Toolkits
~ RNAO
~ APA Practice Guidelines
~ [Approach] research review or meta analysis
Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of your practice
Conducting Your Own Research
~ Sample size (n=30+)
~ Defining your variables
~ Group vs. Individual
~ Self-help vs. Counseling
~ Medication vs. No-Medication
~ Match client profile with therapist
~ Eliminating confounds
~ Concurrent diagnoses
~ Additional significant bio-psycho-social variables
~ Age, Culture
Conducting Your Own Research
~ Design your study
~ Who are your participants
~ How will you implement it
~ What instruments will you use
~ Consider the age/attention of the participants
~ How will you maintain participation
~ Consider having study design reviewed by an independent reviewer/review board
~ Ensure patients provide informed consent to participate
Conducting Your Own Research
~ Measuring Variables
~ Objective tests
~ Urinalysis
~ Instruments
~ Likert scales / client self-report
~ Focus on symptom goals
~ Use anchors
~ Avoid odd numbers (“I feel energetic/happy…”)
1= lousy/rarely/20%/1 day/<3 hours per day
2= okay/sometimes/50%/3 days/3-8 hours per day
3=good/often/80%/5 days/8-12 hours per day
4=awesome/frequently/>80%/ More than 5 days /12-16 hours per day
Conducting Your Own Research
~ Conduct the research
~ Gather the data
~ Analyze the data
~ http://statpages.info/
~ http://www.quantitativeskills.com/sisa/
~ SPSS
Creating Your Own Instruments
~ Write the instrument
~ Test for:
~ Internal reliability
~ Test-retest reliability
~ Concurrent validity
Summary
~ Research can be used to
~ Identify new treatments that can benefit your clients
~ Evaluate the veracity of claims about treatment effectiveness
~ Ensure existing treatment approaches are effective with your client population
~ Use research methods to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your practice
~ There are multiple sources to help you identify effective instruments and best practices
~ You can conduct your own research to monitor program and intervention effectiveness