Edinburgh Napier University

  Evidence is essential to enable practitioners and services to best meet the needs of their service users. The concept of evidence-based practice has been imported to career development, but its implicit medical model is problematic to apply to the social nature of the field. Evaluating the effectiveness of career development interventions presents formidable methodological challenges, not least the conceptual and definitional issues raised by the selection of outcome measures. The use of research evidence in policy and practice requires the synthesis and communication of findings to practitioners and stakeholders. Both policymaking and practice are political processes and research evidence is necessary but not sufficient to influence decision-making. Knowledge generated from research can rarely be applied to career development practice without attention to multilevel contextual factors. To best inform practice, research evidence should be combined with local knowledge, practitioner experience, and input from service users. A simple integrated model of evidence-based practice for career development interventions is presented. This model is suitable for adoption by reflective practitioners.