The Development of Practice Guidelines in the Social and Human Sciences

Following a trend observed in evidence-based practice, there has been a significant increase in the number of clinical practice guidelines that have been developed and disseminated in recent years in psychology, social work, and other social sciences. However, the methods used to develop those guidelines were not always optimal. Indeed, the social field often requires that guideline developers consider different types of data and domains. Furthermore, guideline developers in the social sciences are often confronted to the lack of availability of certain types of data. This article draws on the recommendations of a taskforce of the Institut national d'excellence en sante et en services sociaux (INESSS) du Quebec to propose a methodology for guideline development that can be used in the social and human sciences. More specifically, the article presents the different types of data that should be used to inform practice guidelines, as well as strategies for diversifying and triangulating those data. Strategies are also presented to develop and grade recommendations for practice.Keywords: clinical practice guidelines, evidence based practice, guideline development, practice guidelines, social sciencesResumeSelon la tendance observee dans la pratique basee sur des donnees probantes, au cours des dernieres annees, on a constate une importante hausse des lignes directrices sur la pratique ayant ete etablies et distribuees en psychologie, en travail social et en d'autres sciences sociales. Toutefois, les methodes utilisees pour elaborer ces lignes directrices n'ont pas toujours ete optimales. En effet, les redacteurs de lignes directrices pour les sciences sociales doivent souvent prendre en compte divers types de donnees et de domaines. Qui plus est, ils doivent souvent composer avec le manque d'acces a certains types de donnees. Cet article s'appuie sur les recommandations du groupe de travail de l'Institut national d'excellence en sante et en services sociaux (INESSS) du Quebec pour proposer une methodologie pour la redaction de lignes directrices concernant les sciences sociales et humaines. Plus particulierement, l'article presente les differents types de donnees qui devraient etre utilises pour soutenir la redaction des lignes directrices ainsi que des strategies pour la diversification et la triangulation de ces donnees. Des strategies sont aussi presentees pour l'etablissement et l'evaluation des recommandations concernant la pratique.Mots-cles : lignes directrices pour la pratique clinique, pratique basee sur des donnees probantes, etablissement de lignes directrices, lignes directrice pour la pratique.Evidence-based practice (EBP) were first developed in medicine in the 1990s (e.g., Sackett, Rosenberg, Gray, Haynes, & Richardson, 1996), in large part as a result of a need for medical practitioners to have access to synthesized and evidence-based recommendations to inform their practice (Gray, Plath, & Webb, 2009; Hollon et al., 2014; Oxman, Lavis, Lewin, & Fretheim, 2009). This push for practitioners to ground their practice in scientific evidence also began decades ago in the social and human sciences and has increased in recent years (e.g., Dozois, 2013; Drapeau & Hunsley, 2014; Gambrill, 2003; Ionita & Fitzpatrick, 2014). For example, the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) recently released a statement that defines EBP as "the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the best available research evidence to inform each stage of clinical decision-making and service delivery, [which] requires that psychologists apply their knowledge of the best available research in the context of specific client characteristics, cultural backgrounds, and treatment preferences" (Dozois et al., 2014, p. 155). Guidelines for clinical practice, which are also becoming more common in the social sciences, are one method commonly used to inform the services offered by professionals and to help them to implement a practice that is congruent with the CPA's definition. …