2018 · Study · English

Using the Social Development Strategy to Unleash the Power of Prevention

Haggerty, K. P., & McCowan, K. J.

Haggerty, K. P., & McCowan, K. J. (2018). Using the Social Development Strategy to Unleash the Power of Prevention. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 9(4), 741–763. doi.org/10.1086/700274

Summary

Conceptual paper on the Social Development Strategy (SDS), the theoretical framework behind Communities That Care that explains how young people develop healthy behaviour and how problem behaviour can be prevented. The authors start from the disproportionate poverty rates among racial minority populations that drive disparities in education and in physical and behavioural health, and argue that reducing such disparities requires addressing poverty and inequality rather than problematising individual behaviour. The SDS accounts for systemic inequities through two constructs: position in the social structure (race, socioeconomic status, age, gender) and external constraints such as neighbourhood safety and informal social control. It organises healthy development around the opportunities, skills and recognition that let young people bond to family, school and community. The paper reviews interventions grounded in SDS principles and shows how they can be read as tools against health disparities, background for practitioners who want to understand the model on which CTC's risk and protection logic rests.