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Relocating prevention in practice

Prevention is a much used term in professional practice. It has a potential to inform practice, but is often used as part of a sweeping generalization to justify a course of action that is followed. This article re-examines the implicit assumptions that prevention, as a concept, is meaningful for health and welfare professionals working in the field of learning disabilities. The paper aims to clarify the meaning of prevention in two ways: the first is prevention from exclusion, viewed here as a form of denial of the basic right of citizenship; second, we consider prevention of harm, linking to the more traditional roles within professional responsibility. These two areas are illustrated by case examples derived not only from research, but also from the literature available on the subject. It is argued that prevention has greater professional utility if it is applied in particular ways and to specific situations in practice. In clarifying this usage, an attempt to avoid the continuing ambiguity that surrounds the term is adopted.