Reducing barriers to evidence-based practice with military families: Clearinghouse for military family readiness

Evidence-based practice (EBP) improves health and well-being by providing current scientific evidence in treating a wide range of military family challenges. However, there are a number of real and perceived barriers to the adoption of this practice. To help reduce barriers, the Department of Defense partnered with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to fund the development of the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at the Pennsylvania State University. The Clearinghouse provides a growing web-based repository of information on more than 900 programs and practices that can be used by military personnel and their families. These programs have been closely vetted by a team of research and evaluation scientists and placed on a continuum of evidence, indicating the level of empirical support for each program (i.e., Effective, Promising, Unclear, and Ineffective). The Clearinghouse also provides live technical assistance to advise social service professionals working with military families on the adoption, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based programs and practices. In this article we describe how military and civilian social service practitioners can benefit from partnering with the Clearinghouse.