Science, Social Work, Prevention: Finding the Intersections

Over the past 25 years the science of prevention of adolescent health and behavior problems has matured as a result of longitudinal studies of predictors of these problems and controlled studies of preventive interventions focused on those predictors that have revealed efficacious prevention strategies. This article builds on three Aaron Rosen lectures: Aaron Rosen's call for the use of evidence-based practice in the first lecture in this series, Mark Fraser's call for more intervention research in social work, and Claudia Coulton's explorations of “The Place of Community in Social Work Practice Research.” It documents key developments in prevention science over the past 25 years and explores what these developments could mean for social work education and research over the next few years.