Deck 2: Steps in the EBP Process

Question 1

Which of the following statements is true about formulating EBP questions about intervention effectiveness?

A) They should never specify one or more interventions in advance.
B) They might or might not specify one or more interventions in advance.
C) They must specify one or more interventions in advance.
D) They should never include specifics about client characteristics.

Answer 1

They might or might not specify one or more interventions in advance.

Question 2

Which of the following statements is/are true about finding sources of evidence on Web sites?

A) Some enable you to read or download the full text of original studies online.
B) Some might have a vested interest in promoting or debunking a particular treatment modality and thus be biased.
C) Some provide objective reviews of available research.
D) All of the above.

Answer 2

All of the above.

Question 3

Which of the following Web sites is/are highly regarded as objective sources of evidence for EBP questions?

A) The Cochrane Collaboration.
B) The Campbell Collaboration.
C) The American Psychological Association.
D) All of the above.

Answer 3

All of the above.

Question 4

MedLine is a:

A) governmental Web site that will provide free access to a professional literature database.
B) very expensive database accessible only to physicians.
C) remark physicians use when they are trying to hit on nurses.
D) component of a statistical graph.

Question 5

If you want to narrow your search of electronic literature databases, you should use the connecting word/Boolean operator:

A) or.
B) and.
C) but.
D) glue.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is/are true about the selection of search terms when searching electronic databases?

A) Decide on one term in advance and stick to it.
B) Search terms should never exceed three words.
C) You might have to try a variety of search terms to feel confident that you haven't missed something important.
D) Both a and b are true.

Question 7

Which of the following statements is/are true about electronically searching for evidence?

A) You should read every study you find.
B) You can examine titles and abstracts to ascertain which studies are and are not worth reading.
C) You should read studies even if they seem irrelevant; you never know what you might find.
D) Both a and c are true.

Question 8

Which of the following statements is/are true about the studies you'll find when electronically searching for evidence?

A) They might vary greatly in their objectivity and rigor.
B) Some might have been conducted and reported by individuals or groups with vested interests.
C) Some might be seriously flawed even if their investigators were objective and unbiased.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 9

A study that merits guiding your practice:

A) must be flawless.
B) should not contain fatal flaws.
C) might contain some acceptable flaws that do not destroy the credibility of its findings.
D) Both a and b are correct.
E) Both b and c are correct.

Question 10

Which of the following statements is/are correct about the role of practice context in selecting an intervention?

A) It involves a judgment call based in part on the best evidence; in part on your practice expertise; in part on your practice context; and in part on the idiosyncratic characteristics, values, and preferences of your clients.
B) While you should not underestimate the importance of your judgment and expertise in making the decision, neither should you interpret this flexibility as carte blanche to allow your practice predilections to overrule the evidence.
C) The fact that you are well trained in and enjoy providing an intervention is NOT a sufficient rationale to continue to provide the intervention when solid research is showing it to be ineffective or much less effective than some alternative.
D) You should NOT let your practice predilections influence your appraisal regarding which studies offer the best evidence.
E) All of the above statements are correct.

Question 11

Which of the following statements is/are correct about the need to monitor client progress when implementing an intervention that clearly is supported by the best scientific evidence?

A) Monitoring is not really needed because the effectiveness of the intervention has already been scientifically established.
B) Monitoring is needed because there may be something about the way you are providing an intervention supported by research that is making it less effective than it was in the research studies on it.
C) Identifying measurable treatment goals to monitor client progress should come late in the treatment process.
D) Monitoring client progress is risky because it might influence you to abandon an intervention that you already know to be the most effective one for your client.
E) Both a and d are correct.
F) Both b and c are correct.

Question 12

MedLine is a governmental Web site that will provide free access to a professional literature database.

Question 13

If you want to more narrowly target the types of studies that will come up in an electronic database search, you should use the connecting word and.

Question 14

When you search electronic literature databases, you should read every study you find.

Question 15

To merit guiding your practice, a study must be flawless.

Question 16

You should automatically select and implement the intervention that is supported by the best research evidence, regardless of any other practice considerations.

Question 17

No matter how scientifically rigorous a study might be, and no matter how dramatic its findings might be in supporting a particular intervention, there always will be some clients for whom the intervention is ineffective or inapplicable.

Question 18

There might be important differences between your clients or practice context and the clients or contexts included in studies supplying the best evidence.

Question 19

Many relatively weak studies supporting the effectiveness of an intervention should outweigh one very strong study that fails to support its effectiveness.

Question 20

Even if you are certain that a particular intervention has the best evidence supporting its effectiveness for your client, the client should still be informed briefly of the evidence and permitted to refuse the intervention.

Question 21

Formulate an appropriate EBP question and describe how you would search for evidence to answer it.

Question 22

Describe how the use of connectors such as and and or can influence your search for evidence using electronic literature databases.

Question 23

Explain the distinction between less serious methodological flaws and fatal methodological flaws.

Question 24

Identify common feasibility constraints that practitioners encounter in trying to implement the EBP process.