This invited set of reflections upon the research carried out under the auspices of a school of social work is part of a series featuring research centers. It reflects 25 years of scholarly work related to both public and nonprofit human service organizations at the only university-based research center in the United States devoted to research on…

This article presents recent refinements to implementation constructs and frameworks. It updates and clarifies the frequently cited study conducted by the National Implementation Research Network that introduced these frameworks for application in diverse endeavors. As such, it may serve as a historical marker in the rapidly developing science and…

The article reports on the findings of a review of empirical studies examining the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the human services. Eleven studies were located that defined EBP as a research-informed, clinical decision-making process and identified barriers and facilitators to EBP implementation. A thematic analysis of the…

Human service organizations are uniquely positioned, given their scope of practice and access to consumers with the widest range of needs to significantly increase the national capacity for research if they were effectively equipped with the knowledge, skills, and funding to integrate research and development into their ongoing organizational…

This article examines the cost-effectiveness of providing permanent supported housing to homeless people with mental illness. Through the use of billing records and frequency of use charts, researchers were able to map the service usage of a cohort of 268 homeless individuals from both urban and rural communities. The results suggest that…

Contemporary trends in social service delivery systems require human service agencies to engage in greater levels of advocacy to reform structures and protect programs that serve vulnerable populations. Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the policy advocacy behavior of nonprofit human service agencies.…

Quality improvement centers were created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau beginning in 2001 to promote knowledge development through an innovative approach to applied collaborative research in child welfare. The National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services was funded to…

In social welfare history, F. B. Sanborn is only vaguely remembered. Yet he initiated landmark programs in public welfare and institutions for the mentally ill, retarded, deaf, and criminal. He played a major role in creating and sustaining the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. His program innovations were so far ahead of his time…

This article presents findings from the evaluation of Oregon's Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project. The 5-year waiver was approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and initiated in 1997. Results showed that children from waiver branches were 3 times more likely to remain with their families 1 year after service target date…

This study examines the role of organizational context in predicting service effectiveness. It highlights methods for studying this phenomenon for expanding knowledge of intervention effects in social work and other disciplines in the human services. A total of 3,883 children and 13 networks of organizations comprised the study sample. To…