It’s National Professional Social Work Month, and Professor John Brekke is advocating for a reimagination of social work as both a practice- and science-focused discipline.

With roots in the rise of social activism and the widening class divides of 19th century America and Britain, the discipline of social work has undergone a long—and in many ways ongoing—evolution. At various moments throughout the decades, the practice of social work has married elements of policymaking, health care, education, psychology and anthropology.

At the turn of the 20th century, the convergence of several movements within the field crystallized the structure of practice around key pillars, such as the prioritization of casework and the application of the scientific method. Around the same time, the creation of the American Association of Hospital Social Workers in 1918 helped legitimize the profession. This early progress notwithstanding, on the whole, the discipline of social work still struggles to fully understand, articulate and solidify its relationship with “hard science.”

In honor of National Professional Social Work Month, we’re highlighting the work of John Brekke, the Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Brekke, who specializes in the clinical treatment of mental illness and domestic violence as well as treatment outcome research, is tackling the difficult questions found at the intersection of social work and science. In a new book, Shaping a Science of Social Work: Professional Knowledge and Identity, Brekke and his colleagues examine the role of science in social work and propose a new vision for achieving a better balance between everyday practice and science within the field.

USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work: How did you become interested in the science of social work?

John Brekke: Around 1985, my professional focus shifted from clinical practice to conducting research on community-based care for those with serious mental illnesses. In this research, I began considering the relationship between social work and science, increasingly attempting to broaden the dialogue around social work research to encompass the entire enterprise of science.

While disciplines like sociology and psychology have long incorporated scientific theory and methods into the reality of practice, the field of social work has largely lagged behind. Informed by both a micro-level clinical approach and a macro-level systems-based approach, social work views reality through a multifaceted lens. I believe that the practice of both micro- and macro-level social work could be significantly improved with a stronger integration of scientific theory and methods.  

USC: What factors influenced your decision to write a book exploring the relationship between science and social work?

JB: In 2011, a colleague at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work encouraged me to give a lecture at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). After a series of conversations with her, I decided to focus on the need for social work as a field to embrace more fully the scientific enterprise, and to define itself as a science.  

The yearly Island Wood retreats from July 2011 to July 2016—which grew out of the central issues raised in that original lecture—brought together social work scholars from a variety of research and practice backgrounds to collectively examine the role of science in social work. The engaging, wide-ranging discussions that took place over the course of these retreats became the foundation of the book’s central thesis.

USC: What are some of the central questions you tackled in Shaping a Science of Social Work: Professional Knowledge and Identity?

JB: The book addresses some of the boundaries, foundational constructs, methodological issues, philosophical underpinnings and overarching values of science as an enterprise. It also attempts to broach questions concerning the relationship between science and practice, working within interdisciplinary scientific frameworks and cultivating the next generation of social work scholars and scientists.

USC: What do you hope to accomplish with this book?

JB: Most importantly, the goal of the book is to encourage my fellow stakeholders in the field to redefine social work as an equally practice- and science-focused discipline. By redefining the “what”at the heart of the discipline, the book aims to provide social work researchers with a more comprehensive scientific identity. Social work should not only be about the professional practice of clinical work and policymaking—it should be about the methodologies and data that build knowledge to maximize the effectiveness of practice, as well.

My hope is that the book will bring value to scientists, educators and anyone else interested in the dynamic symbiosis between science and social work practice.