A criteria for any field to be considered a profession,
whether that be psychology, social work, medicine,
or sport psychology, is that a disciplinary
knowledge base underlies professional practice.
Evidence based practice focuses on the process by
which scientific knowledge is used to guide professional
practice in sport and exercise psychology
whether that involves a sport psychologist helping an
athlete enhance performance or designing a program
designed to enhance life skills in underserved youth.
Evidence based practice has been defined in many
ways in different professions. However, most of these
definitions have some common elements. Considering
these commonalities and the unique nature of sport and exercise psychology, evidence based practice involves
the conscientious, thoughtful, and explicit integration
and use of the best available scientific evidence to
inform all stages of decision-making and service delivery
to sport psychology consumers.
The process of implementing evidence-based practice
is complex and involves many factors. These include
determining what comprises the best available evidence,
including judging the ‘efficacy’ of techniques
(e.g., determining whether a treatment works) and practical
‘utility’ (e.g., determining whether a treatment
works in a particular situation or setting); practitioner
expertise (e.g., ability to make assessments, interpersonal
expertise, practical decision making ability); and
client characteristics, culture and preferences (e.g.,
determining what works for particular individuals)
(Anderson, 2006).
There are many types of evidence that may be used
by practitioners. These may include qualitative and
quantitative studies, case studies, intervention research,
evaluation research, randomized clinical trials, meta
analyses. Translational science and research dissemination
models are being developed to help researchers
better develop the types of knowledge that will facilitate
practice and most effectively to disseminate those
sources of evidence (Gould, 2016). If, how and when
practitioners use research evidence to guide practice is
starting to be explored (Winter & Collins, 2015a,
2015b).
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