ACQ Vol 13 no 2 2011

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ACQ Volume 13, Number 2 2011 87
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and
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conducting and interpreting efficacy research, ensuring
that the voices of our clients are not marginalised or
forgotten in the quest for evidence based practice.
Directing assessment with the client’s voice in mind links
directly with notions of ecological validity and again argues
for the use of an overarching framework like the ICF to
ensure that the selection of assessment tasks, and
subsequent goal setting and treatment planning are
governed by a rich, holistic understanding of our client’s
needs, values, and perspectives.
Summary
This column of “What’s the evidence?” has called for
clinicians to sit back and reflect on their assessment
practice. Does the suite of assessments routinely used
consider all domains of the ICF to allow functional and
holistic outcome measurement? Do the assessment tools
have adequate ecological validity, in addition to established
psychometric credibility? Is assessment driven by a clear
overarching theoretical framework to guide the selection of
measures, interpretation, and integration of results?
Following this reflection, it would be interesting to see
whether we find the evidence to continue as we have done,
or whether it highlights the need to throw the “old faithful”
away and search for new measures or tools that support
our goal to become evidence based practitioners.
Ultimately, there is a need for dedicated research and the
development of new tools and resources to guide not only
intervention, but also evidence based assessment.
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Mary Claessen and Jade Cartwright are both lecturers at Curtin
University involved in teaching the principles of evidence based
practice to students and committed to bridging the divide between
theory and research, and practice.
Correspondence to:
Mary Claessen
Curtin University of Technology
School of Psychology and Speech Pathology
Perth 6845 Australia
phone:+61 8 9266 3472
fax:+61 8 9266 2464
email: