Emerging strategies in the prevention of domestic violence

Responses to domestic violence have focused, to date, primarily on interven tion after the problem has already been identified and harm has occurred. T here are, however, new domestic violence prevention strategies emerging, an d prevention approaches from the public health field can serve as models fo r further development of these strategies. This article describes two such models. The first involves public health campaigns that identify and addres s the underlying causes of a problem. Although identifying the underlying c auses of domestic violence is difficult-experts do not agree on causation, and several different theories exist-these theories share some common belie fs that can serve as a foundation for prevention strategies. The second pub lic health model can be used to identify opportunities for domestic violenc e prevention along a continuum of possible harm: (1) primary prevention to reduce the incidence of the problem before it occurs; (2) secondary prevent ion to decrease the prevalence after early signs of the problem; and (3) te rtiary prevention to intervene once the problem is already clearly evident and causing harm. Examples of primary preventing include school-based progr ams that teach students about domestic violence and alternative conflict-re solution skills, and public education campaigns to increase awareness of th e harms of domestic violence and of services available to victims. Secondar y prevention programs could include home visiting for high-risk families an d community based programs on dating violence for adolescents referred thro ugh child protective services (CPS). Tertiary prevention includes the many targeted intervention programs already in place (and described in other art icles in this journal issue). Early evaluations of existing prevention prog rams show promise, but results are still preliminary and programs remain sm all, locally based, and scattered throughout the United States and Canada. What is needed is a broadly based, comprehensive prevention strategy that i s sup ported by sound research and evaluation, receives adequate public bac king, and is based on a policy of zero tolerance for domestic violence.