FAQs
- How do I know the last date that the research evidence for a program was reviewed on the CEBC?
The most recent date that the research evidence for that particular program was reviewed, as well as the original date, is listed at the bottom of the brief and detailed report for that program. For instance:
Date Reviewed: May 2011 (originally reviewed in May 2006)
The research evidence for each program on the CEBC is re-reviewed every two years by the CEBC staff. In addition, the CEBC staff also, at any time, accepts information on new research evidence from program representatives/developers and from CEBC consumers. Any time new research evidence is identified, it is reviewed to determine if the program will need to be re-rated. For information on the re-rating process, please see http://www.cebc4cw.org/how-are-programs-on-the-cebc-reviewed/ and click on “How is a Program Re-Rated?” from the list.
- I am interested in seeing a review of a program in a topic area that is currently or will soon be featured on the CEBC website — how do I nominate the program for inclusion?We appreciate your suggestion for inclusion of the program. The first criteria is that we are only able to add programs in a topic area that is currently or will soon be featured on the CEBC website. In cooperation with the Scientific Panel, we review all suggestions for programs to be included. If a decision is made that the program meets the inclusion criteria (see FAQ #5 below) for the CEBC, we will send the developer (or a designated person who is able to answer detailed questions about the program) an invitation for the program to be included on the CEBC. If they agree to participate, we will ask them to fill out a questionnaire about their program. Please note, at this time, we are only adding new programs into existing areas that are able to be rated on the Scientific Rating Scale or are being used in or widely marketed to the child welfare community in California. This also includes only adding new screening or assessment tools that are able to be rated on the Assessments Ratings Scale.
- How can I make a suggestion for a new topic area for the CEBC?
The CEBC's statewide Advisory Committee selects all topic areas. We appreciate your input on possible topic areas to explore. The Advisory Committee will review all suggestions.
- What is the "scope" of the CEBC?
The CEBC reviews existing programs in the areas selected by the Advisory Committee and examines the research evidence for programs and interventions that can be used by professionals who interact with children and families in the child welfare system. The CEBC does not examine the issues that these practices address. For instance, we do not examine the effects of abuse on children, but we do look at programs that can be used to treat trauma in children. The CEBC also does not endorse any of the programs on the website, the purpose of the CEBC is to list and rate programs for informational purposes.
- How are programs selected to be included on the website?
This information can be found on the CEBC Overview page in the About Us section.
- How are programs rated?
The programs are rated on the CEBC website using the Scientific Rating Scale.
Provisional Rating:
After the programs have been reviewed and rated in a particular topic area, a provisional rating will be provided for 60 days. If you would like to provide feedback for any of the identified programs, you can use our general contact form. - Can the scientific rating of a program be changed?
Yes, annually we contact all of the programs currently on the site to ask for updated contact information as well as any updates on research that has been published. In addition, we periodically review programs to see if new research has been published. We also ask that our Scientific Panel, Topic Experts, and Advisory Committee alert us to any new research on the existing programs that may come to their attention. Consumers can also provide information on new research. All new peer-reviewed, published literature will be reviewed.
- Why does the CEBC only look at published, peer-reviewed research when evaluating a program?
Please click here to see the CEBC’s page on Published, Peer-Reviewed Research
- Why do you have programs listed on the website that are Not able to be Rated (NR) on the CEBC Scientific Rating Scale?
Though the field of child welfare has become increasingly focused on the importance of evidence-based practice to improve services for children and families, the research in this area is still emerging. The rationale for highlighting practices both with and without research is to effectively provide straightforward, unbiased, and reliable information about the level of research evidence currently existing for practices relevant to child welfare. CEBC users are then able to clearly see the level of research evidence for programs that are commonly in use or being marketed in their communities.
- I am a researcher — how can I use the CEBC website?
The CEBC website provides information on areas where research has been strong and where it has been weak. For instance, if you go to the "Youth Transitioning in Adulthood" topic area, you will see that all of these programs were reviewed and given the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification on the scientific rating scale. This is an area that has almost no research, and yet it is a critical area for child welfare. Thus, the CEBC can be used to help determine areas in which research needs to be pursued.
- I am in academia — how can I use the CEBC website?
If you go to a practice that is rated a "1" on the scientific rating scale and look at the relevant research section, you can learn more about the existing research that established the practice to be well-supported by research evidence.
For students in both graduate and undergraduate programs, this is a good way to learn more about research in an easy-to-read format. The citations are provided to allow for more in-depth review.
Students can also use the scientific rating scale developed by the CEBC to assist them in reviewing practices in related areas such as aging or mental illness, as well as those in child welfare that are not currently on the CEBC website. This provides the student with a structure to learn how to evaluate the evidence-base of a wide range of practices.
- I am a child welfare administrator — how can I use the CEBC website?
If you work in an area such as "Youth Transitioning into Adulthood" where the research is limited, it is important to be aware that limited research exists in the area. Knowing that there is a lack of research in a given area should point out the need to expand the effort to try and secure funding that will allow your program to be evaluated. If you are working in the area of policy, then you could use this information to try to influence funding sources to create Request for Proposals (RFPs) that focus on research in areas with limited or non-existent research, such as Youth Transitioning into Adulthood.
As an administrator, you might also use the CEBC to try to implement programs that have a high level of evidence in your agency. The CEBC eliminates that need for you to do exhaustive literature reviews as we have compiled the critical research studies for your review. The website provides information about training, provider qualification, etc., that are critical to making decisions about which practices are a good fit for your agency.
While the CEBC does not extensively address implementation for each program, it does provide the information that is needed for agencies to strategize implementation and training contact information to allow replication of the programs highlighted on the CEBC.
- I am a direct practitioner — how can I use the CEBC website?
Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) can impact funding sources for your clients. For instance, as funding sources become more aware of EBPs it becomes more likely that the RFPs that they release will have specific EBPs attached to them. If you are working for an agency, you may find that they have secured a new grant that requires the use of a specific EBP. You will then be required to learn this EBP in order to provide services to clients under the grant.
As more information about EBPs becomes available, clients may also specifically request treatments that they have read are effective. If you are in private practice, then managed care companies may also push for EBPs as they decide how to spend their dollars and are more likely to pay for time-limited services that have been shown to have effective and sustainable results. Using the CEBC gives you an easy way to learn more about the different EBPs, and provides links to further information about manuals and training opportunities.
- Why was the Scientific Rating Scale revised in January 2009?
Read about the rationale behind revising the Scientific Rating Scale in January 2009. Learn about the current Scientific Rating Scale.
- What happened to the Child Welfare Relevance Rating that used to be displayed on the Rating Scales page?
Due to feedback from our users, we have converted the Child Welfare Relevance Rating to a Child Welfare System Relevance Level. With this modification, even if a program is not able to be rated on CEBC Scientific Rating Scale, it has now been assigned a Child Welfare System Relevance Level by the CEBC staff. This allows you to see if the program specifically targets child welfare populations (High), populations similar to those found in child welfare (Medium), or populations not similar to those found in child welfare (Low) whether or not the program has outcomes from comparison studies published in a peer-reviewed journal. This also makes it so that only the CEBC Scientific Rating Scales has numbers attached to it. More information on the levels can be found here. The Child Welfare Relevance Levels are searchable from our new Search by Child Welfare System Relevance page.
- I want to use information from the CEBC website, how do I provide correct attribution?
Information presented on the CEBC website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. When using information obtained from the CEBC, we ask that you please use the following acknowledgement:
Material/Image/Information obtained from the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC) at www.cebc4cw.org.