Structured Decision Making
Introduction
Structured Decision Making (SDM) is a major practice initiative, implemented across Queensland in 2005 to assist Department of Communities practitioners in making decisions about children, young people and families.
Developed by the Children’s Research Center (CRC), SDM incorporates a set of evidence-based assessments and decision-making guidelines designed to provide a higher level of consistency and validity in the assessment and decision-making process. It also is a method for targeting resources to families that are most likely to subsequently abuse or neglect their children. The term practitioner is used to reflect that SDM assessments are to be used by professional departmental officers.
SDM is not intended to make decisions. It assists decision-making by allowing practitioners’ to organise facts and evidence gathered, and is used in conjunction with the practitioner’s professional judgement. This leads to a recommendation for action that must subsequently be approved by a line manager (team leader).
Further information about SDM is provided below under the following headings:
- What is Structured Decision Making?
- Background to implementation
- How do SDM assessments fit with professional judgement?
- SDM assessments
- Case reading
- SDM resources
- Last updated
- 24 September 2009
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