Evidence-based practice: A framework for twenty-first-century scientist-practitioner training

A consensus has long existed that the,scientist-practitioner model has failed to reflect what was envisioned by the Boulder Conference participants and endorsed by counseling psychology at the Greyston and Georgia Conferences. Counseling psychology's commitment, however to the scientist-practitioner model has not faltered. Furthermore, developments within the health care system (e.g., managed care, empirically validated treatments, treatment guidelines) demand from psychologists increasing levels of scientific knowledge and a wider range of research skills. Psychology's current commitment to positivist explanation, scientific knowledge characterized by law-governed causal processes, is at the core of the scientist-practitioner split. To integrate scientist-practitioner ideals into a comprehensive approach to counseling psychology training, research, and practice, counseling psychologists should embrace an identity as evidence based practitioners. Inherent in this framework is a philosophical, scientific, political, and social shift toward an expanded view of what constitutes scientific evidence.