Evidence into Practice, Practice into Evidence

Projects and services that gather and respond to information about needs, and that build on what's already known about what works (the 'evidence base'), have a better chance of success. Meanwhile, new ways of working can yield valuable information that can be applied elsewhere.

The National Programme supports work to promote the gathering and use of evidence of need and effectiveness. The Evidence into Practice programme also helps people to develop the research skills needed to evaluate projects and services and to publish and distribute their findings.

Evidence into Practice Training

The Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health (SDC) and the Research Unit for Health Behaviour and Change are running a series of free workshops and seminars on using and collecting evidence of effectiveness.

See our events calendar for dates and locations of up-coming sessions. For further details and to book places, contact SDC.

Evidence into Practice Guides

Health Scotland has published four guides and a set of case studies to assist managers and workers to gather, use and distribute evidence of need and effectiveness. Click the links below to download PDF versions. Printed copies are available on request from Health Scotland.

Guide 1: Evidence-based practice
How can we use what we currently know to inform the design and delivery of interventions?

Guide 2: Measuring success
How can we develop indicators to gauge progress and assess the effectiveness of mental health improvement interventions?

Guide 3: Getting results
How can we plan and implement evaluations?

Guide 4: Making an impact
How do we analyse and interpret the results from an evaluation and communicate the findings to key audiences?

Evidence and Practice Case Studies
This resource provides 22 case examples (from a range of sectors and settings) of work that is evidence based, follows good practice guidelines and gives indications of effectiveness.

Mental Health Improvement Training Plus

This course is designed to give participants skills in the development, implementation and dissemination of mental health improvement evaluation. It is designed for colleagues across all sectors and settings who have a role in commissioning, planning or undertaking evaluation.

It is suitable for colleagues grappling with some of the challenges of

  • Using the evidence base to plan and evaluate interventions
  • Identifying indicators and measures of success
  • Collecting data
  • Analysing mental health impact

This two-day course aims to give participants skills in the development, implementation and dissemination of mental health improvement evaluation. The course will cover theory, the evidence base, evaluation design and methodology.

Further information

For more population health information, visit Health Scotland's 'Scotland's Health' pages at http://www.healthscotland.com/understanding/index.aspx