Social work interest in prevention and health promotion: A content analysis of social work literature

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Christina Bethke, BA¹, Betty J. Ruth, MSW, MPH¹, Jamie Wyatt, MSW¹, Katherine Markham, MPH, CSW², Micaela Cohen, BA¹, and Sarah Sisco, MPH, MSW³. (1) School of Social Work, Boston University, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, 617 353 4574, cbethke@bu.edu, (2) Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 55 West 125th St., New York, NY 10027, (3) Social Work Leadership Institute, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029

Public health and social work share a century-long history of parallel and converging professional focus on social health. In a world characterized by health disparities, globalization, and demographic shifts, public health skills are increasingly viewed by scholars as critical to social work's success. Given the profession's historic commitment to the health and well-being of persons worldwide, prevention and health promotion are critical to social work's efforts to reduce health inequalities and to promote social justice.

Little is known, however, about how social work views prevention and other public health skills. The growth of MSW/MPH programs suggests interest, but there is minimal research on the impact of these programs on social work training. While most social workers are employed in health care, nearly half of MSW programs have no health practice course. A review of those that do reveals little prevention content.

To better understand social work's views, six public health social work researchers undertook content analysis of eight peer-reviewed journals, searching for content on prevention, health promotion and health education. During 2005-2006, three-person teams analyzed titles, abstracts, and text of articles published from 2000 to 2004 in Social Work, Journal of Social Work Education, Social Work and Health, Social Work Research, Families in Society, Child Welfare, Social Service Review and Journal of Gerontological Social Work. Articles were coded and counted, yielding discrete and aggregate counts of prevention content for each journal. Findings show most articles contain no content on prevention, health promotion or health education. Data continue to be analyzed.

Learning Objectives:

Learning Objectives

1. To clarify what is known about the social work profession’s views of prevention and health promotion, as reflected in the content analysis of five years of scholarly writing in eight major social work journals;
2. To discuss implications for public health social workers concerning the relative absence of content on prevention and health promotion in major journals;
3. To outline actions that can be taken by public health social work professionals to increase interest and visibility of prevention and health promotion in major journals, and to promote linkages between public health and social work.

Keywords: Social Work, Public Health Infrastructure

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Public Health Social Work Best Practices in Program Administration (Evidence-Based Outcomes)

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA