The Guidelines

 

  • Primary prevention strategies, activities, and programs are developed based on:   

    • The collective experience of those who live in the community, particularly survivors (contextual evidence);   

    • The best data/research available on the issues (best available research evidence), and;   

    • SV/DV prevention experts who can identify factors that may impact success (experiential evidence, e.g., funding, local history, community norms, etc.).   

  • The way we implement primary prevention strategies should be based on a set of principles, or theories, and be informed by data or research that lets us know what works and what does not work.  

  • Experiences and expertise from diverse and directly impacted community members should inform the programming in an ongoing way.   

Data Example: Adverse Childhood Experiences  

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study was conducted between 1995 and 1997. The study found that experiences of childhood abuse and neglect in childhood are linked to later-life health and well-being. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. The video We Can Prevent ACEs provides information about how we can prevent ACEs by using strategies to create safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed an ACEs prevention hub that offers data and information about how to move data to action. 

Data Example: Social Determinants of Health  

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) is a useful framework to understand the nature and extent of issues and social problems experienced by individuals and families in their quest to improve the quality of their lives. This framework will be a valuable tool as you continue thinking about the person and environment perspective offered for understanding and assessing human behavior. You can access fact sheets and data about SDOH from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

  • The Evidence Project from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides guidance around what constitutes “evidence” in guiding prevention efforts.

  • A Prevention Resource for Action is a select group of strategies based on the best available evidence to prevent or reduce public health problems like sexual and domestic violence. A Prevention Resource for Action has three parts:

    • Strategy: The strategy lays out the direction or actions to achieve the goal of preventing violence.

    • Approach: The approach includes the specific ways to advance the strategy. This can be accomplished through programs, policies, and practices.

    • Evidence: The evidence for each of the approaches in preventing violence or its associated risk factors is included as the third component.

    The Centers for Disease Control have developed several Prevention Resources for Action, including Sexual Violence Prevention: Resource for Action and Intimate Partner Violence Resource for Action. To review Resources for Action for other forms of linked violence, including child abuse and neglect and community violence, visit this website.

  • There are several “theories of change” that support health promotion and behavior change.

    Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) outlines health promotion and disease prevention theories and models in their Rural Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Toolkit.

    While this video from the Food, Nutrition and Health (FNH) program at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is focused on nutrition education, it explains a variety of public health theories.

Explore the Guidelines: