Shaping the Future of Prevention in Social Work: An Analysis of the Professional Literature from 2000 through 2010

摘要

In light of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s goals of better patient care, cost control, and improved population outcomes, prevention is emerging as an important component of health reform. As a result, broad societal interest in prevention is growing, together with widespread interest in public health. The profession, with its extensive involvement in the health system and deep roots in public health, needs to know more about its relationship to prevention. This study builds upon the Social Work Interest in Prevention Study–which evaluated the extent, types, and levels of prevention content in nine social work journals over a six year time period from 2000–2005. The goal of the expanded study, the Social Work Interest in Prevention Study-Expansion (SWIPS-E), was to assess whether interest in prevention had increased over the full decade, which included the time period in which health care reform was enacted.