INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Primary prevention is a systematic process that promotes healthy behaviors and environments and reduces the likelihood or frequency of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. Primary prevention is distinguished from secondary prevention because it explicitly focuses on action before there is a threat of violence. Primary prevention efforts foster social norms and environments in which intimate partner violence and sexual violence does not occur.

Preventing intimate partner violence and sexual violence requires the recognition that the conditions within our society and communities contribute to the violence. The beliefs we promulgate, the gender roles we reinforce, and the myths we uphold all contribute to a climate in which intimate partner violence and sexual violence is permitted and reinforced. We must challenge the systems, norms and beliefs that enable people to hold and wield power and control over others. This is among the most promising approaches to prevent violence against women before it occurs -- to foster a culture in which everyone takes action to reduce the factors that contribute to intimate partner violence and sexual violence.

While intimate partner violence and sexual violence is committed by individuals, preventing that behavior requires taking into account multiple domains -- family, peers, community, institutions, media, broader society -- and their relative impact on individuals and their behavior. This framing, referred to as the social-ecological model, recognizes that the individual is powerfully influenced by domains, systems and norms, and that influencing each of these will reduce violence. The social-ecological model supports a comprehensive public health approach that not only addresses an individual's risk factors, but also the norms, beliefs, and social and economic systems that create the conditions in which violence occurs.

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Putting Prevention at the Center of Community Well Being
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