Risk, protection, and resilience: Toward a conceptual framework for socialwork practice

In both the academic and popular press, the related concepts of risk, prote ction, and resilience have emerged as constructs for conceptualizing social and health problems. The idea of "risk" is ubiquitous in social work. In e veryday use, the term conveys the notion that an individual, family, group, school, neighborhood, or organization is likely to experience a negative o utcome. Although the ideas of protection and resilience conjure up images o f extraordinary feats in overcoming adversity, they are elusive. In light o f the growing salience of what some call the "risk-and-resilience" perspect ive, this special issue of Social Work Research highlights social work rese arch that uses the concepts of risk, protection, and resilience. In this in troductory article, the authors define key terms, discuss methodological is sues, and explore implications for the profession.