Emerging Strategies Aimed at Preventing Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Perpetration

Few evidence-based strategies exist in intimate partner violence and sexual violence prevention, particularly efforts aimed at stopping perpetration. Few strategies are designed to meet the needs of specific underserved communities. However, promising strategies have emerged from IPV/SV practice that have potential for broad impact because they are theoretically-driven, aimed at risk and protective factors, currently implemented by practitioners and have some component focused on community or social factors. These broad strategies include working with boys and men, bystander strategies, community engagement, and healthy relationship programs. This symposium will present examples of current strategies aimed at stopping IPV and SV perpetration and discussion of how prevention strategies emerging from practice can be systematically identified and evaluated. In addition, we will discuss how practitioner networks promote identification of new prevention strategies and the role of these networks in disseminating evidence-based strategies. The first presentation will examine strategies to systematically identify promising practices through review of practices and the exchange of ideas through PreventConnect, a national online community to advance primary prevention of IPV/SV. The second presentation will share the process in developing a report that identified innovations in prevention from the national Rape Prevention and Education program. Remaining presentations will highlight specific prevention strategies and how practice has informed evidence for intimate partner and sexual violence prevention efforts. Coaching Boys into Men provides support to athletic coaches to provide athletes with violence prevention messages. Project ENIVSION, a community mobilization effort, uses participatory research to change social norms that contribute to SV.