Evidence-Based Practice: Integrating Classroom Curriculum and Field Education

This article describes the use of problem-based learning to teach the scope and consequences of evidence-based practices in mental health through an innovative assignment that integrates classroom and field learning. The authors illustrate the planning and implementation of the Evidence-Based Practice: Integrating Classroom Curriculum and Field Education Assignment designed to promote a deeper, more comprehensive and critical understanding of the multiple and interacting factors that may prevent a social work student from providing the best possible services to clients with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse. The authors discuss the challenges in and implications of developing and implementing a problem-based assignment that integrates evidence- based practice material from class and field. Implications of using problem-based learning in social work education are then discussed.