Beyond Risk Factors: Towards a Holistic Prevention Paradigm for Children and Young People

View/ Open
File version
Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
France, A
Freiberg, K
Homel, R
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2010
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Since the mid 1990s early intervention and prevention has become a central feature of public policy across the western world. This development has had a major impact on re-constructing the prevention paradigm in children and youth services. It has been underpinned by the emergence of the science of risk factor analysis (RFA). This paradigm has had mixed success in prevention work but has gained significant political credence and support. While RFA has reshaped prevention approaches it does have methodological and practice limitations. This paper argues for a more holistic approach to prevention policy and social work practice, ...
View more >Since the mid 1990s early intervention and prevention has become a central feature of public policy across the western world. This development has had a major impact on re-constructing the prevention paradigm in children and youth services. It has been underpinned by the emergence of the science of risk factor analysis (RFA). This paradigm has had mixed success in prevention work but has gained significant political credence and support. While RFA has reshaped prevention approaches it does have methodological and practice limitations. This paper argues for a more holistic approach to prevention policy and social work practice, one that recognises risk but does not allow it to dominate. We explore the growing body of evidence for RFA, outlining both its strengths and weaknesses and show how a more holistic approach can be adopted. We argue that the fundamental focus for analysis and intervention needs to recognise the social and cultural context of developmental pathways, and emphasises needs to be on relations between levels of organisation in a child's or young person's developmental process . We draw on the Australian Pathways to Prevention Programme to illustrate how social work can and should be developed to create more holistic approaches to prevention.
View less >
View more >Since the mid 1990s early intervention and prevention has become a central feature of public policy across the western world. This development has had a major impact on re-constructing the prevention paradigm in children and youth services. It has been underpinned by the emergence of the science of risk factor analysis (RFA). This paradigm has had mixed success in prevention work but has gained significant political credence and support. While RFA has reshaped prevention approaches it does have methodological and practice limitations. This paper argues for a more holistic approach to prevention policy and social work practice, one that recognises risk but does not allow it to dominate. We explore the growing body of evidence for RFA, outlining both its strengths and weaknesses and show how a more holistic approach can be adopted. We argue that the fundamental focus for analysis and intervention needs to recognise the social and cultural context of developmental pathways, and emphasises needs to be on relations between levels of organisation in a child's or young person's developmental process . We draw on the Australian Pathways to Prevention Programme to illustrate how social work can and should be developed to create more holistic approaches to prevention.
View less >
Journal Title
The British Journal of Social Work
Volume
40
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in British Journal of Social Work following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version British Journal of Social Work 40(4), 2010, 1192-1210 is available online at 10.1093/bjsw/bcq010.
Subject
Social work
Sociology
Social change