Research Evaluation
A. Choose a specific research article that evaluates an intervention related to individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness.. CBT THERAPY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DEPRESSION
B. Write a paper that addresses the following questions and points:
1) Provide a description of the intervention, including the key components that must be present in order for the intervention to have good fidelity.
2) What are the goals, targets and desired outcomes of this intervention, and how is progress toward these outcomes typically tracked?
3) What is the nature of the all the evidence supporting this intervention?
• You should summarize the key relevant professional academic literature in the area (from social work and related professions)—this should be done in a table format (author, sample, interventions tested, design, measures, and results). Include age, race, and ethnicity of sample in sample description whenever this information is reported.
• Your research must extend beyond the required and recommended readings for the course, although you are welcome to use course readings in your paper.
• The information you review in this section should present the state-of-the empirical research relevant to your selected intervention.
• Categorize the intervention according to one of the Level of Evidence classification models presented in this assignment, and present the rationale for this categorization.
4) What additional research is needed on this intervention to enhance its level of empirical support, or to demonstrate its effectiveness with key populations?
C. Reference List. List all references according to American Psychological Association (APA) style. Papers that have references and citations that do not conform to APA format will lose points. You will be graded on: 1) your ability to use the professional literature and other relevant information to address the task and justify the assessment tool/intervention; 2) your ability to critically assess, synthesize, and organize the information gathered; 3) the overall writing quality of the paper (organization, grammar, lack of typos, APA guidelines for all citations and referencing, etc.).
Guidelines for Evaluating Research – Two Models for Research Criticism:
Level of Evidence Coding System:
This model was adopted from the Agency of Health Care Policy’s classification of Level of Evidence system. This system classifies each study into one of six categories in order to denote the strength of the evidence for the intervention (Foa, Keane, Friedman, 2000).
• Level A: Evidence is based upon randomized, well-controlled clinical trials for individuals with target diagnosis.
• Level B: Evidence is based upon well-designed clinical studies, without randomization or placebo comparison for individuals with target diagnosis.
• Level C: Evidence is based on service and naturalistic clinical studies, combined with clinical observations that are sufficiently compelling to warrant use of the treatment technique or follow the specific recommendation for individuals with target diagnosis.
• Level D: Evidence is based on long-standing and widespread clinical practice that has not been subjected to empirical tests for individuals with target diagnosis.
• Level E: Evidence is based on long-standing practice by circumscribed groups of clinicians that has not been subjected to empirical tests for individuals with target diagnosis.
• Level F: Evidence is based on recently developed treatment that has not been subjected to clinical or empirical tests for individuals with target diagnosis.
