Empirically Based Interventions Targeting Social Problems

John S. Wodarski, PhD, is professor of Social Work at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work in Knoxville. Dr. Wodarski has over 40 years of experience teaching graduate and undergraduate social work students. His main interests include child, adolescent and young adult health behaviors, including research on violence, substance abuse, depression, sexuality, HIV and viral hepatitis prevention, and employment. Dr. Wodarski has written over 65 textbooks and has contributed to over 50 additional texts. 

Laura M. Hopson, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Alabama School of Social Work in Tuscaloosa. Dr. Hopson has over 10 years of experience teaching social work students and practitioners. Her research focuses on prevention of health risk behaviors and academic failure among vulnerable adolescents, especially ethnic minority adolescents from economically disadvantaged households. Her work also examines barriers to implementing evidence-based practices in community agencies and strategies for overcoming these barriers. She has authored or co-authored over 50 publications in journals and texts and co-authored the book Research Methods for Evidence-Based Practice with John S. Wodarski.