Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem affecting millions of Americans. In addition to the consequences of injury and death, IPV is associated with a myriad of negative and long-lasting physical and mental health outcomes. Preventing IPV before it starts is critical to improving our nation’s health and well-being. Although more research is needed to determine the prevention strategies with the broadest and most sustained impact, it is important to focus now on the best available evidence for preventing IPV and to assist communities in their prevention efforts. This chapter outlines the six strategies and corresponding approaches that are presented in CDC’s technical package on preventing IPV (Niolon et al. Preventing intimate partner violence across the lifespan: a technical package of programs, policies, and practices. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, 2017). These strategies include those with a focus on preventing IPV from happening in the first place or to prevent it from continuing. They are as follows:
- 1.
Teach safe and healthy relationship skills to adolescents and adults.
- 2.
Engage influential adults and peers in promoting positive relationships and preventing violence among adolescents and young adults.
- 3.
Disrupt the developmental pathways toward partner violence by intervening early to interrupt childhood risk factors associated with later perpetration.
- 4.
Create protective environments that support connectedness and healthy relationships.
- 5.
Strengthen economic supports for families, which addresses socioeconomic risk factors for IPV.
- 6.
Support survivors to increase safety and lessen harms, which includes approaches that mitigate the negative consequences of IPV for survivors and their children and help keep them safe from future violence. Future directions for research on preventing IPV are discussed.
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Niolon, P.H., Estefan, L.F., Kearns, M., Dahlberg, L. (2020). Best Available Evidence for Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Across the Life Span. In: Geffner, R., Vieth, V., Vaughan-Eden, V., Rosenbaum, A., Hamberger, L., White, J. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62122-7_237-1
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