J. David Hawkins is the Endowed Professor of Prevention and founding director of the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington School of Social Work in Seattle. His research focuses on understanding and preventing child and adolescent health and behavior problems. Hawkins develops and tests prevention strategies which seek to reduce risk through the enhancement of strengths and protective factors in families, schools and communities.
Hawkins has looked at the development of positive and problem behaviors among adolescents and young adults. His longitudinal study, begun in 1981, has followed 808 Seattle elementary school students who are now 34 years old. He has also conducted a randomized field experiment involving 24 communities across seven states testing the effectiveness of Communities That Care, a prevention system he co-developed.
He was awarded the 2009 Flynn Prize for Research, the 1999 Prevention Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research, the 1999 August Vollmer Award from the American Society of Criminology and the 2003 Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology. He is a fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Experimental Criminology.
Hawkins earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his master’s and PhD in sociology from Northwestern University.
Presentation: Moving Toward Effective Community Prevention Practices: Opportunities for Social Work Education
Discovering and disseminating science-based solutions to prevent mental, emotional and behavioral disorders in communities should be a priority for social workers. Many efforts to prevent these problems across populations have failed, but recent trials have produced positive outcomes at the community level. These efficacious strategies and trial results will be reviewed. For successful implementation and widespread utilization, these effective approaches require specific workforce capacities. This presentation will explore opportunities for ensuring that the skills for successful implementation of community-level preventive interventions are provided in schools of social work.
