Practical, Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Making: Introduction to the Special Series

• Evidence-based assessment (EBA) is essential to evidence-based practice.
• Limited resources exist to help clinicians use EBA for clinical decision-making.
• This special section provides practical guidance for using EBA during treatment.

Evidence-based assessment (EBA) is an essential component of evidence-based practice. Information obtained from EBA can be used to make decisions about what to target in treatment, to generate a case conceptualization, and to objectively monitor treatment progress. Numerous studies indicate that incorporating EBA into treatment can improve client outcomes. Unfortunately, relative to the amount of information available to clinicians about evidence-based treatments, little information exists to guide clinicians who are interested in incorporating EBA into their treatment practices. This special section seeks to address that gap by providing practical clinical guides and case examples for a variety of EBA strategies across a variety of settings.