COPES Question

In response to the Copes question,
Evidence-Based Practice: Efforts to Integrate Research into Practice

Introduction

Evidence Based Practice is a growing field in the social work arena. The essence of evidence-based practice is placing the client’s benefits first by posing specific questions of importance to the client, searching objectively and efficiently for the best evidence, and then using the evidence to guide one’s practice. In short, evidence-based practice is the integration of research into practice. In this paper I illustrate the steps of evidence-based practice from the formation of a COPES question to the identification of practice guidelines.

COPES Question

A COPES question is a specific, answerable, well-built question, which has four corresponding features: client type and problem, intervention, alternate course of action, and outcome. My work as an

He has had four arrests. His most recent arrest was for possession of drugs. Furthermore, he is a truant, does not follow household rules, may be abusing drugs, and steals. I recommended that Justin be referred to a residential treatment center (RTC), since adoptive mother cannot manage him. His adoptive mother asked me if an RTC would really help Justin in improving his behavior. Thus, my first COPES question, an effectiveness question, reads as follows:
If delinquent youth are exposed to residential based programs as opposed to no such program, will the former result in fewer delinquent behaviors?

My second COPES question aroused out of my concern for teen pregnancy. One of my clients, a 17 year-old African-American female, is three months pregnant. I feel I could have prevented this, but it is too late now to prevent her from being a mother at an early age, so my focus should be on how I can help the other adolescents in my caseload from falling into the same trap. Thus, my COPES question is the