I’m just back from a very interesting gathering of folk who find evidence use fascinating and want to see more of it. We at least seemed to agree that we want to create more of an appetite for evidence and want to do more sharing of examples of promising practices.
So here is an example based on a conference paper given last year.
Creating a community of reflective practice– It’s based on the CEDAR evaluation but goes into more detail about the approach. You might like this if you:
- want to see better use of existing evidence both from elsewhere and the stuff that we’re already swimming in;
- think that the evidence doesn’t ‘speak for itself’;
- suspect that hearing the voice of the consumer or service user might well provide very valuable perspectives on the nature of the problem and generate new solutions;
- suspect that much could be learnt by sharing of the rich experience of practitioners;
- would like to see those practitioners get more feedback about their work – both what’s good and what needs to change;
- think that if research is to be worthwhile, it should contribute to changes in practice as well as report the outcomes of the programme;
- like the idea of a community of reflective practice, but are not sure how to make a start.
For a short visual explanation of some of this you might also want to have at look here.