Over a decade ago, in an address to the British Social Science Research Council on the relationship between research and social action, Daniel Patrick Moynihan expressed concern for the lessons to be learned from the disappointing experiences with large-scale programs of the 1960s and with the possible contributions of action-research. Citing the American Social Science Research Council's response, he said

In this book we look at ten projects that represent new approaches to the mental health problems of children and youth. We call them “social inventions” because they represent departures from previous, inadequate ways of dealing with the problems. The projects described all attempt to meet the goals Mr. Moynihan speaks of, in relation to the needs of children as they develop ways of coping with the stresses of modern life. Rather than directly tackling the large-scale sources of inequality, prejudice, social conflict, and turbulence or concentrating on the specific problems of individuals, these projects address characteristic problems of children and youth in adapting to the society in which they must live.