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The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical perspective on the international evidence on promoting young people’s social and emotional well-being in schools. The challenges of integrating evidence-based interventions within schools are discussed and the need for innovative approaches to research and practice are considered in order to support more sustainable approaches that can be embedded into the everyday practice of school systems.

A common elements approach to intervention development and implementation is explored. A case study is presented on piloting this approach with post-primary students, based on consultations with students and teachers concerning their needs in supporting youth social and emotional well-being.

The integration and sustainability of evidence-based social and emotional skills programmes within the context of whole school systems is far from clearly established. Research on the use of a common elements approach to evidence-based treatment and youth prevention programmes is presented and the application of this method to the development and implementation of social and emotional learning interventions is considered. Preliminary case study findings are presented exploring this approach in school-based intervention development for post-primary school students.

The potential of adopting a common elements approach is considered; however, more rigorous research is needed to identify the most potent strategies for social and emotional skills development.

Identifying a common set of evidence-based strategies for enhancing adolescents’ social and emotional skills could lead to innovative approaches to intervention delivery that would extend the impact and reach of evidence-based practice across diverse educational systems and school settings.

This paper aims to describe: the need for substance misuse treatment with high risk, personality disordered prisoners, and the implementation of two evidence-based psychological interventions aimed at addressing substance misuse within a high secure, personality disorder treatment unit and potential future evaluation options.

In addition to the literature base evidencing the need for substance misuse treatment with this population, the Iceberg and ‘InsideOut’ interventions are presented. These interventions adopt a risk reduction and health intervention approach respectively. This includes explanations of how they came to be implemented within a prison based personality disorder treatment service and potential ways to evaluate these services.

Evidence-based psychological interventions can be implemented for this population whilst being responsive to changing government priorities for substance misuse treatment. The organisation’s research strategy includes an intention to evaluate these interventions in order to inform future delivery.

The high levels of co-morbidity between personality disorder and substance misuse disorders in the high security prison estate highlights the need for substance related treatment for this population. Given the responsivity issues relevant to personality disordered offenders, the format of delivery of evidence-based psychological interventions has to be considered.

This paper discusses the application of evidence-based psychological interventions for substance use within a high secure, personality disordered population which has developed as a result of ministerial changes within the treatment of both substance misuse and personality disorder.

There is an apparent disconnect between the understanding of best practice and service delivery in the support of people with learning disabilities at risk of behaviours that challenge. We suggest, is a problem of implementation. The purpose of this paper is to explore reasons why this might be the case: a failure to recognise the collective works of successive generations of research and practice; and a failure to address the macro-systems involved and systems changes needed to support implementation.

This paper reviews the consensus that exists in respect of best practice. Drawing upon ideas from implementation science the paper highlights the complexities involved in the implementation of all evidence-based practices and uses this as a framework to propose ways in which an infrastructure that facilitates the delivery of services in the learning disabilities field might be built.

This paper highlights core recommended practices that have been consistent over time and across sources and identifies the systems involved in the implementation process. This paper demonstrates that many of the necessary building blocks of implementation already exist and suggests areas that are yet to be addressed. Critically, the paper highlights the importance of, and the part that all systems need to play in the process.

In the absence of any generalised implementation frameworks of evidence-based practice in the learning disabilities field, the paper suggests that the findings may provide the basis for understanding how the gap that exists between best practice and service delivery in the support of people with a learning disability at risk of behaviours that challenge might be closed.

Alternative education settings (AES; i.e., self-contained alternative schools, therapeutic day treatment and residential schools, and juvenile corrections schools) serve youth with complicated and often serious academic and behavioral needs. The use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) and practices with Best Available Evidence are necessary to increase the likelihood of long-term success for these youth. In this chapter, we define three primary categories of AES and review what we know about the characteristics of youth in these schools. Next, we discuss the current emphasis on identifying and implementing EBPs with regard to both academic interventions (i.e., reading and mathematics) and interventions addressing student behavior. In particular, we consider implementation in AES, where there are often high percentages of youth requiring special education services and who have a significant need for EBPs to succeed academically, behaviorally, and in their transition to adulthood. We focus our discussion on: (a) examining approaches to identifying EBPs; (b) providing a brief review of EBPs and Best Available Evidence in the areas of mathematics, reading, and interventions addressing student behavior for youth in AES; (c) delineating key implementation challenges in AES; and (d) providing recommendations for how to facilitate the use of EBPs in AES.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the use of self‐help bibliotherapy developed from a local pilot scheme to become national policy in Wales. Analysis aims to focus on the use of evidence‐based practice (EBP) as a justification in the process of policy creation.

A mixed methodological approach was used to gather data, incorporating semi‐structured interviews, documents, and descriptive statistics. Actor‐network theory (ANT) was used as a critical lens to frame analysis.

The study finds that the translation from local pilot to national initiative was achieved using legitimising discourses including EBP. These discourses were used selectively, and in response to the needs of the focal actors in the network. The complex relationship between EBP and self‐help bibliotherapy is explored in connection with healthcare policy, concluding that the use of EBP legitimises a lack of patient‐centred evaluation.

Limitations of the research include a lack of engagement with patients using the scheme, and future research should aim to present a more patient‐centred account to complement this policy‐focused work.

Little in‐depth work has been conducted on the strategy behind the introduction of bibliotherapy schemes in the UK or elsewhere, and this paper presents an in‐depth theoretical analysis of the first nationwide bibliotherapy scheme in the world.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development and proposal of a values evidence-based model of clinical supervision (CS) for the implementation by nursing staff (registered and non-registered nurses) within a forensic intellectual disability service.

This is a conceptual and technical paper providing a descriptive account for a service provision with nursing staff.

The paper does not present any research findings but does demonstrate a novel and innovative approach to the conceptualisation and implementation of CS.

The paper examines the dominant concepts that shape existing thinking around CS and suggests a new interpretation that involves greater pragmatism through a values evidence-based approach.

The purpose of this paper evaluates the capacity of the Cornwall Foundation Trust (CFT) of the National Health Service (NHS) to implement the UK Government’s children and young people’s mental health strategy through its school-based integrated health centre (SBIHC) delivery model.

This evaluation uses six case studies of SBIHCs to indicate the general effectiveness of this delivery model and its capacity to implement the three core proposals of the Government’s strategy. The core proposals are: to encourage all schools and colleges to identify and train a designated senior lead (DSL) for mental health; to fund new mental health support teams (MHSTs); and to develop strategies to meet the proposed four-week waiting time for access to specialist NHS mental health services.

This evaluation found that the Duchy Health Charity and CFT piloted a new delivery model in three SBIHCs from 2009 that successfully integrated health and educational services to children and adolescents, including general health and well-being and sexual and mental health and, more recently, integrated welfare services.

The main research implication is that longitudinal case studies of organisational innovations can reveal the subtleties of educational management in context and potentially inform advances elsewhere consistent with national policy developments.

The main practical implication is that the SBIHCs at Penair Community School, Budehaven Community School, Hayle Community School, Looe Community Academy, Treviglas Community Academy and Wadebridge Community School should each be recognised as a “trailblazer site” in the implementation of the Government’s children and young people’s mental health strategy.

Mandatory secondary education is the last opportunity that the UK society has to embed knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for the life-long self-management of health. The CFT’s SBIHC model trialled since 2009 has successfully integrated health and educational services to children and adolescents, including general health and well-being and sexual and mental health and, more recently, integrated welfare services.

This evaluation research is unique. It reports that the CFT’s SBIHC model is the first and only organisational innovation at a system level in the UK that has successfully integrated health and education services to children and adolescents.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify the types of adaptations made by service providers (i.e. practitioners) during a large-scale US statewide implementation of SafeCare®, an evidence-based intervention to reduce child neglect; and second, to place adaptations within a taxonomy of types of adaptations.

Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 138 SafeCare providers and supervisors. Grounded theory methods were used to identify themes, specific types of adaptations and factors associated with adaptation.

Adaptations were made to both peripheral and core elements of the evidence-based practice (EBP). The taxonomy of adaptations included two broad categories of process and content. Process adaptations included presentation of materials, dosage/intensity of sessions, order of presentation, addressing urgent concerns before focusing on the EBP and supplementing information to model materials. Content adaptations included excluding parts of the EBP and overemphasizing certain aspects of the EBP. Adaptations were motivated by client factors such as the age of the target child, provider factors such as a providers’ level of self-efficacy with the EBP and concerns over client/provider rapport. Client factors were paramount in motivating adaptations of all kinds.

The present findings highlight the need to examine ways in which adaptations affect EBP implementation and sustainment, client engagement in treatment, and client outcomes.

Implementers and EBP developers and trainers should build flexibility into their models while safeguarding core intervention elements that drive positive client outcomes.

This study is unique in examining and enumerating both process and content types of adaptations in a large-scale child neglect implementation study. In addition, such adaptations may be generalizable to other types of EBPs.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key project delivery method selection factors to assist water industry decision-makers in selecting the most appropriate delivery method for their water treatment plant projects.

The selection factors were identified by compiling and validating key project delivery selection factors across various industries through an extensive literature review and two industry expert workshops. This resulted in the development of a web-based decision-support tool to facilitate project delivery method selection within the water industry.

The research effort led to the identification of 13 key project delivery method selection factors (seven primary factors and six secondary factors) for water treatment plant projects. These factors were utilized to develop EXPRSS-TP, a pioneering web-based project delivery method decision-support tool for the water industry.

A project delivery method selection process is typically an informal process that may range from days to weeks at a time. Based on this work, the assessment can now be completed in about one hour and provides decision-makers with the most favorable delivery method for their project. And with the new tool that encompasses the new knowledge, not only is the decision reached at an accelerated pace, EXPRSS-TP also documents the entire selection process, allowing for a written and retained record of this key decision and its procedure.

This paper contributes to the exisiting body of knowledge by identifying key project delivery selection factors across numerous industries, assessing and combining them, and finally incorporating them into one comprehensive process. EXPRSS-TP improves the traditional project delivery method selection process and provides evidence-based project delivery method selection recommendations.