Development of evidence based practice in academic service partnerships: Experiences of working life representatives from social and health care sectors

Learning about how to develop and lead the implementation of evidence based practice (EBP) in services is an important part of the education of developers and managers for the social and health care sectors. In order to develop this teaching and to support the development of EBP in services, a Teaching Development Effort (TDE) was conducted by establishing academic service partnerships (ASPs) and connecting Master's students' assignments with them. The TDE was conducted as a part of a larger project whose main aims were to strengthen, develop and renew transfers of knowledge and competence between higher education institutions and workplaces, and to strive for a more multidisciplinary quality in workplace innovations. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the experiences of working life representatives regarding the development of EBP in ASPs within the social and health care sectors. The data were collected by email interviews. Eight working life representatives' participated in the study. The informants were asked to describe the usefulness of the plan that had been prepared by the students regarding the implementation of EBP, and to describe the significance of this ASP for the development of working life. A qualitative content analysis method was used when analyzing the data. Virtually all the informants stated that the plan prepared by the students, for the implementation of EBP, was entirely ready to be taken into use in the form they had finished it. The significance of the ASP was described in terms of the ASP assisting in improving the quality of the service. Furthermore, the workplace-based student assignment topics, external views to support the development of EBP, and the theoretical approach used by the students were valuable. The ASP provided opportunities for the practitioners to learn new things, inspiration to look to the future, and assistance in the implementation of time management practices. ASPs have potential to support EBP in services and the use of them is recommended. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.