Evidence-Based Practice, Part I: Research Update

The subject of evidence-based practice in child mental health care has now reached a level of sophistication that sets a high standard in child psychiatry practice.

The nature of the “evidence” for evidence-based practice is intelligently discussed at the outset of this two-part series of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Part I and Part II (to be published in April 2005) together comprise a comprehensive review of evidence-based practice. Part I contains updates in the following areas: intensive home-based and community interventions, school-based interventions, engaging families, and psychotropic medications. Part II includes a series of articles on perspectives about evidence-based practices and strategies for moving them into clinical practice.

I am very grateful to the co-guest editors, Barbara J. Burns and Kimberly Eaton Hoagwood, and the outstanding group of authors they have recruited for this issue. This issue is an important statement of where we stand in evidence-based treatment and where we might go in the future. This is an important issue that should be read by all clinicians who treat children and adolescents.