Meta-Analysis of Intervention Research on Social Work Practice

사회복지실천 프로그램에 대한 메타분석 : 집단프로그램의 효과크기를 중심으로

Many different intervention methods have been developed to resolve the problem of clients, but research studies evaluating the effectiveness of such practices can be overwhelming to social workers because of the conflicting results of them. In this study, meta-analysis was used to make sense of this research, offering the general effect size of social work practice. Meta-analysis can answer the question, "how effective is the intervention?" beyond the question, "is the intervention effective?". It can integrate the fragmentated results of research studies and provide the guidelines for best practice. Combining the results of the 16 research studies, this study computed the general effect size of social work interventions. The mean d index was. 6636 (95 percent confidence interval of .5355, .8018). Conversion to Cohen's $U_3$ statistics allows for the inference that three-fourths (74.7%) of the clients who participated in an intervention group did better than the average clients of non-intervention group. This means that social work interventions are practically helpful to seven of every 10 clients who experience them. In conclusion, this study recommended the usefulness of meta-analysis, which can provide the intervention strategies based on empirical research and guide the best approaches.