Evaluating practice: Does it improve treatment outcome?

The hypothesis of this study was that the single-subject design evaluation methodology improves social work treatment outcome. This hypothesis was only partially validated among a study population of juvenile delinquents who were treated by probation officers with a social work degree. Specifically, during the period between the preintervention and the follow-up assessments, the experimental group participants -those whose treatment was evaluated by single-case design - significantly reduced the frequency of their arrests by police, whereas their control group counterparts' rate increased. Being in the experimental or the control group, however, had no significant effect on an array of dependent variables, including self-esteem, ability to control anger, relationships with mother and father, and relationships with peers. Possible explanations for these results are provided using the specific characteristics of single-case methodology.