This issue of Family & Community Health focuses on an increasingly popular and important topic in health care, Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs). The aim of this issue is to evaluate the use of evidence-based interventions with specific target populations. Specifically, authors describe the use of a program to create an innovative family-focused intervention for low-income families whose children are enrolled in Head Start programs; prevent decline, improve function, and increase physical activity among residents in assisted living facilities; develop an intervention that uses Community-Based Participatory Research to adapt established hypertension self-management interventions to be more culturally relevant for urban African Americans; look at 2 self-management programs for persons with diabetes; and use an evidence-based program to change behavior and prevent falls. Each of the populations targeted by the authors in this issue represents a key group for intervention to promote health, reduce disability, and save costs.
Evidence-based practice is a critical component of health care. It is essential to put into practice interventions that have been tested and found to be effective with the target population. Evidence-based practice has been referred to as both a process and a product. As a process, EBP "requires a systematic series of activities to locate, critique, synthesize, translate, and evaluate evidence. As a product, EBP is the translation of evidence into an innovative practice change."1(p3) While there are many ways to gather evidence that will inform practice, the articles in this issue primarily deal with the measurement of interventions designed to effect behavior. Evidence-based practice relies heavily on those using it having a spirit of inquiry and not being satisfied with the status quo. A team of researchers developed what they call the "seven steps of evidence-based practice," and these steps can be seen in the work presented in this issue. Starting by cultivating a spirit of inquiry, then (1) ask clinical questions in PICOT format, and what they refer to as PICOT is the population of interest (P), intervention or area of interest (I), comparison intervention or group (C), outcome (O), and time (T); (2) search for the best evidence; (3) critically appraise the evidence; (4) integrate the evidence with clinical expertise and patient preferences and values; (5) evaluate the outcomes of the practice decisions or changes based on evidence; and (6) disseminate EBP results.2(pp52-53)
As you read the articles in this issue, you will see that the authors have followed the 6 steps recommended earlier in unique ways that fit the population of concern.
It has been my pleasure to serve as the editor of Family & Community Health since 1984. I have worked with many excellent authors and editorial board members, and I thank each of you. I am pleased to tell readers that my successor, Dr. Bettina Beech, will be an excellent editor. She has served as issue editor, author, and editorial board member over the last 17 years. Please provide her with your support and encouragement. Thank you authors, board members, copy editors, support at Editorial Solutions, and the publishing team at Wolters Kluwer.
Jeanette Lancaster
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