Integrating Prevention Strategies Into Organizations That Address Intimate Partner Violence

Dates of Project: December 2007 to April 2012

Field of Work: Integrating primary prevention strategies into the work of domestic violence organizations.

Problem Synopsis: Domestic violence is a serious public health issue. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance data suggests that 26.4 percent of women and 15.9 percent of men were victims of physical or sexual intimate partner violence during their lifetime. Domestic violence organizations provide victim services but devote few resources to prevent violence before it occurs.

“Our program has been taking care of victims of domestic violence for the past 20 years. We’ve always been reactive... We’ve never really made an effort to end it. Prevention is that effort to end it. It’s time to be proactive.”—A program staff person for a domestic violence agency in Kentucky

Synopsis of the Work: From 2007 to 2012, the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC implemented the DELTA PREP project to prepare 19 state-level domestic violence coalitions to address primary prevention of intimate partner violence. The project built upon the CDC's experience with its Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances (DELTA) program, initiated in 2002.

The CDC Foundation awarded the coalitions three-year grants and subcontracted with consultants to deliver training and technical assistance and to conduct the evaluation of the implementation effort.

Key Results

Of the 19 coalitions, 18 improved organizational capacity for primary prevention and 17 served as catalysts for primary prevention in their states. Of these:

• Twelve aligned their prevention priorities with the state sexual assault coalitions to partner on prevention activities
• Nine implemented a prevention program with one or more partners
• Eight established a state-level committee to work on prevention
• Twelve supported intimate partner violence prevention campaigns

The coalitions documented 309 changes in the areas of organizational structure, function, and practices that increased their capacity to lead and support primary prevention in their states, and 162 capacity-building efforts related to prevention at the state and community levels.

The six-month follow-up interviews with coalitions showed that the prevention capacity was being sustained and built upon.

The project team assembled the project tools and lessons learned in a practitioner DELTA PREP Toolkit for use by coalitions at the state and community levels.

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