On June 19, 2012, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Public Health Grand Rounds focused on public health’s role in intimate partner violence prevention.

The session, held at the CDC’s Global Communications Center in Atlanta, Georgia, explored prevention efforts aimed at reducing the occurrence of intimate partner violence through the promotion of healthy, respectful, nonviolent relationships at the individual, relationship, community, and societal levels.  

CDC Director, Dr. Thomas Frieden, opened the session by acknowledging the challenges of IPV prevention, including, “the silence and lack of attention that the issue gets in comparison with its importance.”
Presenters and topics included:

• Howard Spivak, MD, Director, Division of Violence Prevention, “Societal Burden of IPV and Public Health’s Relevance in Prevention”
• Lynn Jenkins, PhD. Branch Chief, Etiology and Surveillance. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC, “The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey”
• Kristi VanAudenhove, Co-Director, The Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, “Building Coalitions to Prevent IPV”
• Debbie Lee, Senior Vice President, Futures without Violence, “National Opportunities for Preventing Intimate Partner Violence”

The Grand Rounds objectives were to:

1. List key measures of burden of disease involving morbidity, mortality, and/or cost.
2. Describe evidence-based preventive interventions and the status of their implementations.
3. Identify one key prevention science research gap.
4. Name one key indicator by which progress and meeting prevention goals is measured.

Additional resources

• Breaking the Silence Grand Rounds PPT slides    
• CDC Intimate Partner Violence Website
• CDC Grand Rounds Website
• National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS)
• Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships
• Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership Through Alliances (DELTA)