{"id":2021,"date":"2018-07-17T18:54:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T18:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=2021"},"modified":"2025-02-06T15:55:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T20:55:40","slug":"working-upstream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2018\/07\/17\/working-upstream\/","title":{"rendered":"Working Upstream!"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column2021_de33bc-ee dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2021_e689a5-dc\">The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences announces a new Doctor of Social Science in Prevention Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/adult-boy-break-306534.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5682\" style=\"width:350px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A parable known as \u201cThe River Story\u201d or \u201cThe Upstream Story\u201d has often been used as a common way to describe the prevention of social or health issues before they occur. Here\u2019s one version:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Writer, educator and clinical epidemiologist Dr. W. Sumner Davis wrote: \u201cImagine a large river with a high waterfall. At the bottom of this waterfall hundreds of people are working frantically trying to save those who have fallen into the river and have fallen down the waterfall, many of them drowning. As the people along the shore are trying to rescue as many as possible, one rescuer looks up and sees a seemingly never-ending stream of people falling down the waterfall and begins to run upstream. One of the other rescuers yells, \u2018Where are you going? There are so many people that need help here.\u2019 To which he replies, \u2018I\u2019m going upstream to find out why so many people are falling into the river.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There have been variations of this story but all highlight the need to address the root causes of problems and keep individuals, families and communities from continually \u201cfalling in or being pushed in the river.\u201d The Doctor of Social Science in Prevention Science is designed to do just that. This degree focuses on the interdisciplinary applications of the social and health sciences to complex, real-world problems of direct concern to individuals, families, organizations, communities and society. There are many key areas where prevention science can be beneficial to individuals, families, peers, communities and society, including sexual health and teenage pregnancy, HIV\/AIDS, obesity, diet\/nutrition, exercise, chronic illness, substance misuse, violence, accidents, suicide, mental illness and delinquency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prevention scientists get to the root causes of issues by examining risk and protective factors. In \u201cThe River Story,\u201d the risk factors could be lack of protective barriers at the top of the waterfall or lack of knowledge about how to swim. Protective factors could include putting up adequate barriers and teaching individuals to swim. Prevention scientists would also evaluate existing programs, policies and practices. Perhaps individuals are learning how to swim, but the education isn\u2019t adequate or doesn\u2019t match their learning styles \u2014 or the protective barrier exists but isn\u2019t sturdy or tall enough.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on the results, prevention scientists then make recommendations for new policy or practices or improving existing programs. Do we need to build stronger, higher protective barriers or revise the&nbsp;way we teach how to swim? Prevention scientists also create new evidence-based\/evidence-informed prevention programs, practices and policies when warranted. They might ask questions like \u201cWhy were individuals falling into the water? Were there mental health or substance use issues?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people choose to address problems of delinquency and crime, mental health or poverty by working downstream; good people are needed at all points in the process. But can you picture yourself as someone checking upstream and asking, \u201cWhy is this happening? Why does it keep occurring? How might we prevent this from continuing?\u201d If so, prevention science is the field for you! Wu<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wilmu.edu\/behavioralscience\"><strong>www.wilmu.edu\/<\/strong><\/a><\/em><em><strong>behavioralscience<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014 Debra Berke<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences announces a new Doctor of Social Science in Prevention Science. A parable known as \u201cThe River Story\u201d or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[651],"class_list":["post-2021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-summer-2018"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":651,"label":"Magazine Summer 2018"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/adult-boy-break-306534-719x480.jpg",719,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Mumford","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/eric\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":651,"name":"Magazine Summer 2018","slug":"magazine-summer-2018","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1208,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14715,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions\/14715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}