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Broadening Our Understanding of Evidence-Based Practice: Effective and Discredited Interventions

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Abstract

The proliferation of unsubstantiated or discredited interventions underscores the importance of the evidence-based practice (EBP) movement in school psychology. Although researchers have conducted several surveys on discredited interventions in counseling and clinical psychology, no studies have investigated the use of these treatments in school psychology. This survey presented Florida Association of School Psychologist members with three categories of treatment: discredited treatments, treatments with mixed research results, and evidence-based treatments. Participants were asked to rate (1) the likelihood that they would recommend an intervention and (2) an intervention’s level of research support. Participants demonstrated unfamiliarity with discredited treatments, overestimated the research support for ineffective techniques, and expressed a desire to learn about discredited interventions through training and professional development opportunities. Training implications for school psychology programs are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Special Education, School Psychology, & Early Childhood Studies, University of Florida, Norman Hall 1403, PO Box 117050, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Brian A. Zaboski, Anna P. Schrack & Diana Joyce-Beaulieu

  2. School of Human Development and Organization Studies, University of Florida, 1215 Norman Hall, P.O. Box 117049, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Jann W. MacInnes

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  1. Brian A. Zaboski
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Correspondence to Brian A. Zaboski.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Zaboski, B.A., Schrack, A.P., Joyce-Beaulieu, D. et al. Broadening Our Understanding of Evidence-Based Practice: Effective and Discredited Interventions. Contemp School Psychol 21, 287–297 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-017-0131-4

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