Violence Prevention: Selected Publications

General Violence Prevention

• CDCynergy: Violence Prevention Edition
  CDCynergy is a multimedia CD-ROM used for planning, managing, and evaluating public health communication programs. This edition of CDCynergy is ideal for those interested in developing prevention programs on the issues of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and youth violence.  
• Handbook of Injury and Violence Prevention
  This comprehensive manual details injury and violence interventions that have proven to work effectively with vulnerable populations across all stages of life. It benefits practitioners who manage, implement, or evaluate injury or violence prevention programs; policymakers who influence injury or violence prevention through legislation and other policies; university faculty who teach coursework in injury and violence prevention; and graduate students preparing to work in or with injury or violence prevention programs.
• Interventions to Reduce Injury and Death from Violence: Systematic Reviews of Evidence, Recommendations from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, and Expert Commentary
  A supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine presented recommendations from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services on the following violence prevention strategies: firearm laws, early childhood visitation, and therapeutic foster care.
  Citation: American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2005; 28(2S1)
• Medical Costs and Productivity Losses Due to Interpersonal Violence and Self-Directed Violence [PDF 140KB]
  This article, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, estimates the total costs associated with nonfatal injuries and deaths due to violence. The study described provides evidence of the large health and economic burden of violence in the United States.
• The National Violent Death Reporting System
  CDC funds 17 states to implement the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). The system collects data on violent deaths from death certificates, police reports, medical examiner and coroner reports, and crime laboratories. These sources offer fragmented data that only explain violence in a narrow context. Together, these sources provide a clearer understanding of the circumstances that surround violent death. A special supplement of Injury Prevention provides an overview of NVDRS and summarizes preliminary findings. Citation: Injury Prevention 2006; No. 12 (supplement II)
• National Violent Death Reporting System Implementation Manual
  There is a lack of basic information about the characteristics of violent deaths at the local, state, and national levels. CDC has developed a National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) Implementation Manual to promote the development of a uniform violent death reporting system. Data from this system can be compared across states and localities and will help practitioners and policy makers design and evaluate local, regional, and national prevention programs and to make informed decisions about violence prevention.
• National Violent Death Reporting System: At-a-Glance
  The At-a-Glance describes the scope of violence-related deaths and how the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) may help to prevent them. It also provides information on the benefits and challenges of NVDRS, examples of program highlights, next steps, and contact information.
• National Violent Death Reporting System Coding Manual
  The NVDRS Coding Manual is a reference document to be used by state health departments for defining cases, entering data, and checking data once it is entered. It contains information about individual variables and the way the data are structured.
• The World Report on Violence and Health
  This report is the first comprehensive review of violence on a global scale. It defines the various types of violence, explains whom it affects, and discusses prevention strategies. The publication is a joint effort of The World Health Organization and CDC.
• Understanding Elder Maltreatment Fact Sheet [PDF 551KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on elder maltreatment. It is intended for the general public.
• Use of Telephone Surveys to Collect Research Data
  The November 2006 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine contains a series of articles on the use of random-digit-dial telephone surveys to collect research data.

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Child Maltreatment

• Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures
• Child Maltreatment: Facts at a Glance [PDF 1.8MB]
  This fact sheet provides up-to-date data and statistics on child maltreatment.
• Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements
  The purpose of the child maltreatment uniform definitions and recommended data elements is to present a definition of child maltreatment, its associated terms, and recommended data elements for voluntary use by individuals and organizations in the public health community. The definitions and data elements are intended to promote and improve consistency of child maltreatment surveillance for public health practices. It is designed to be used by state and local health department staff to assist in and provide a framework for the collection of public health surveillance data on child maltreatment.
• The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan [PDF 1MB]
  This document summarizes the available research on childhood stress and its long-term consequences. The publication is meant to provide practitioners, especially those working in violence prevention, with ideas about how to incorporate this important information into their work.
• First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Early Childhood Home Visitation
  The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent nonfederal task force, conducted a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of home visiting programs in preventing violence. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations.
• First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Early Childhood Home Visitation
  The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent nonfederal task force, conducted a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of home visiting programs in preventing violence. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations.
• Preventing Child Maltreatment: Program Activities Guide
  This document describes CDC's public health activities and research to prevent child abuse and neglect. The guide outlines four categories of activities which are key to CDC's prevention work: monitoring and researching the problem, developing and evaluating prevention strategies, supporting and enhancing prevention programs, and encouraging research and development.
• Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures
  This guide assists youth-serving organizations as they begin to adopt prevention strategies for child sexual abuse. It identifies six key components of child sexual abuse prevention for organizations including (1) screening and selecting employees and volunteers; (2) guidelines on interactions between individuals; (3) monitoring behavior; (4) ensuring safe environments; (5) responding to inappropriate behavior, breaches in policy, and allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse; and (6) training in child sexual abuse prevention.
• Promoting Healthy Parenting Practices Across Cultural Groups: A CDC Research Brief
  summarizes findings from a CDC study on cultural values and parenting and child rearing.  The study focused on five cultural groups—African-Americans, American Indians, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and non-Hispanic Whites. It examined the ways that parents respond to children’s behavior and their views of desirable or undesirable parenting practices. Uncovering the differences and commonalities in values, normative practices, and child-rearing goals across cultural groups is an important step in developing culturally-competent and effective programs and support for parents of all cultural backgrounds.
• Therapeutic Foster Care for the Prevention of Violence
  The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent nonfederal task force, conducted a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of therapeutic foster care in preventing violence. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations.
• Understanding Child Maltreatment Fact Sheet [PDF 827KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on child abuse and neglect. It is intended for the general public.
• Using Evidence-Based Parenting Programs to Advance CDC Efforts in Child Maltreatment Prevention-Research Brief 2004
  CDC has launched several prevention initiatives aimed at encouraging and promoting positive parent-child interactions. These initiatives are summarized in this publication.

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Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

• Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States
  Congress funded the CDC to conduct a study to obtain national estimates of the occurrence of IPV-related injuries, to estimate their costs to the health care system, and to recommend strategies to prevent IPV and its consequences. This report describes findings from the study and identifies future research needs.
• DELTA Program: At-a-Glance
  The Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances (DELTA) Program provides more than $6 million in funding to support local community coalitions that address intimate partner violence. The DELTA Program: At A Glance clearly describes the authorizing legislation for the program, provides examples of prevention work in action from various states, and serves as a tool to raise awareness, interest, and support for the program.
• Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault: A Guide to Training Materials and Programs for Health Care Providers
  This guide helps health care providers find appropriate group-training or self-training materials related to IPV and sexual assault.
• Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Victimization Assessment Instruments for Use in Health Care Settings
  The purpose of this compilation is to provide practitioners and clinicians with the most current inventory of assessment tools for determining intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence victimization and to inform decisions about which instruments are most appropriate for use with a given population.
• Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements
  This report is intended for individuals and organizations interested in gathering surveillance data on IPV. The document is intended to promote and improve consistency of IPV surveillance. If the recommended data elements are uniformly recorded and the data made available to numerous users, then better estimates of the incidence and prevalence of IPV can be obtained
• Measuring Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Compendium of Assessment Tools
  This compendium provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of assessment tools with demonstrated reliability and validity for measuring the self-reported incidence and prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence victimization and perpetration.
• Preventing Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities: CDC's Demonstration Projects
  Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) are serious public health problems that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities. Recognizing the need for programs that address prevention in minority populations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded 10 demonstration projects in 2000 to develop, implement, and evaluate culturally competent IPV/SV prevention strategies targeted for specific racial/ethnic minority groups. Preventing Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities: CDC's Demonstration Projects summarizes the work of the funded projects. The purpose of the document is to describe the approaches projects developed and highlight challenges and lessons learned in the development, implementation, and evaluation of IPV/SV prevention programs for racial/ethnic minority populations
• Preventing Violence Against Women: Program Activities Guide
  This document describes CDC's public health activities and research to prevent violence against women. The guide outlines five categories of activities which are key to CDC's prevention work: tracking the problem, developing and evaluating prevention strategies, supporting and enhancing prevention programs, providing prevention resources, and encouraging research and development.
• Understanding Intimate Partner Violence Fact Sheet [PDF 600KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on intimate partner violence. It is intended for the general public.
• Understanding Teen Dating Abuse Fact Sheet [PDF 168KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on teen dating abuse. It is intended for the general public.

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Sexual Violence

• Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault: A Guide to Training Materials and Programs for Health Care Providers
  This guide helps health care providers find appropriate group-training or self-training materials related to IPV and sexual assault.
• Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Victimization Assessment Instruments for Use in Health Care Settings
  The purpose of this compilation is to provide practitioners and clinicians with the most current inventory of assessment tools for determining intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence victimization and to inform decisions about which instruments are most appropriate for use with a given population.
• Preventing Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities: CDC's Demonstration Projects
  Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) are serious public health problems that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities. Recognizing the need for programs that address prevention in minority populations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded 10 demonstration projects in 2000 to develop, implement, and evaluate culturally competent IPV/SV prevention strategies targeted for specific racial/ethnic minority groups. Preventing Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities: CDC's Demonstration Projects summarizes the work of the funded projects. The purpose of the document is to describe the approaches projects developed and highlight challenges and lessons learned in the development, implementation, and evaluation of IPV/SV prevention programs for racial/ethnic minority populations
• Preventing Violence Against Women: Program Activities Guide
  This document describes CDC's public health activities and research to prevent violence against women. The guide outlines five categories of activities which are key to CDC's prevention work: tracking the problem, developing and evaluating prevention strategies, supporting and enhancing prevention programs, providing prevention resources, and encouraging research and development.
• Rape Prevention and Education Grant Program: At A Glance
  The Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Grant Program provides more than $42 million in funding to support rape prevention activities in all 50 states, 8 territories, and the District of Columbia.
• Sexual Violence: Facts at a Glance [PDF 102KB]
  This fact sheet provides up-to-date data and statistics on sexual violence.
• Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue
  The purpose of this document is to identify concepts and strategies that may be used as a foundation for planning, implementing, and evaluating sexual violence prevention activities.
• Sexual Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements
  This report is intended for individuals and organizations interested in gathering surveillance data on sexual violence. The document is intended to promote and improve consistency of sexual violence surveillance. If the recommended data elements are uniformly recorded and the data made available to numerous users, then better estimates of the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence can be obtained.
• Understanding Sexual Violence Fact Sheet [PDF 481KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on sexual violence. it is intend for the general public.

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Suicide

• National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
  The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention represents the combined work of advocates, clinicians, researchers and survivors around the nation. It lays out a framework for action to prevent suicide and guides development of an array of services and programs that must be developed. It is designed to be a catalyst for social change with the power to transform attitudes, policies, and services.
• Preventing Suicide: Program Activities Guide
  This document describes CDC's public health activities and research to prevent suicide and suicidal behavior. The guide outlines four categories of activities which are key to CDC's prevention work: monitoring and researching the problem, supporting and enhancing prevention programs, providing prevention resources, and encouraging research and development.
• School Health Guidelines to Prevent Unintentional Injuries and Violence
  These guidelines were designed to help education agencies and schools promote safety and make schools safe places for students to learn.
• Special Supplement to Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
  Employing an innovative approach to studying suicide attempters who either used a highly lethal method or would have died without medical help, CDC researchers have identified several non-traditional health risk factors that have rarely been included in suicide research. These non-traditional health associated risk factors include: acute alcohol use, changing residences, existing medical conditions, and characteristics of impulsive suicide behavior.
• State Suicide Prevention Planning: A CDC Research Brief
  State Suicide Prevention Planning: A CDC Research Brief summarizes the results of a CDC research study conducted to describe the key ingredients of successful state-based suicide prevention planning. The study's major objectives were to document the processes involved in developing state suicide prevention plans and to compile these findings into a template for decision making. The results of this study do not provide a universal blueprint for suicide prevention, but the insights garnered provide states with valuable information for effective planning, implementation, and evaluation.
• Suicide: Facts at a Glance [PDF 187KB]
  This fact sheet provides up-to-date data and statistics on suicide.
• The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent Suicide
  This document outlines more than a dozen steps that can be taken by individuals, communities, organizations, and policymakers to prevent suicide.
• Understanding Suicide Fact Sheet [PDF 310KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on suicide. It is intended for the general public.

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Youth Violence

• Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: A Sourcebook for Community Action
  This publication examines the effectiveness of specific violence prevention practices in four key areas: parents and families; home visiting; social and conflict resolution skills; and mentoring. It also documents the science behind each best practice and offers a comprehensive directory of resources for more information about programs that have used these practices.
  English | Spanish
• Electronic Media and Youth Violence: A CDC Issue Brief for Educators and Caregivers
  Electronic Media and Youth Violence: A CDC Issue Brief for Educators and Caregivers focuses on the phenomena of electronic aggression. Electronic aggression is defined as any kind of harassment or bullying that occurs through email, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites, blogs, or text messaging. The brief summarizes what is known about young people and electronic aggression, provides strategies for addressing the issue with young people, and discusses the implications for school staff, education policy makers, and parents and caregivers.
• First Reports Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies for Preventing Violence: Firearm Laws
  The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent nonfederal task force, conducted a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of firearm laws in preventing violence. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations.
• Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools - Second Edition
  This compendium provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of tools to assess violence-related beliefs, behaviors, and influences, as well as to evaluate programs to prevent youth violence.
• Prevention of Youth Violence: The Multisite Violence Prevention Project
  CDC funded 4 universities to determine the effectiveness of several interventions designed to reduce aggressive and violent behavior among middle school students. This supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine provides an overview of the project.
  Citation: American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2004; 26 (1S)
• Preventing Youth Violence: Program Activities Guide
  This document describes CDC's public health activities and research to prevent youth violence. The guide outlines five categories of activities which are key to CDC's prevention work: monitoring and researching the problem, developing and evaluating prevention strategies, supporting and enhancing prevention programs, providing prevention resources, and encouraging research and development.
• National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention: At-a-Glance [PDF 93KB]
  CDC is funding 10 National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention (ACE) at research universities across the country. The goals of the ACE are to build the scientific infrastructure necessary to support development and widespread application of effective youth violence interventions, promote interdisciplinary research strategies to address the problem of youth violence, foster collaboration between academic researchers and communities, and empower communities to address the problem of youth violence.
• School-Associated Violent Deaths in the United States, 1992-1994 [PDF 612KB]
  This article describes trends and features of school-associated violent deaths in the United States between 1992 and 1994.  
• School-Associated Violent Deaths in the United States, 1994-1999
  This article describes trends and features of school-associated violent deaths in the United States between 1994 and 1999.
• School Health Guidelines to Prevent Unintentional Injuries and Violence
  These guidelines were designed to help education agencies and schools promote safety and make schools safe places for students to learn.
• School Health Index
  The School Health Index is a self-assessment and planning tool that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs.
• School Health Policies and Programs Study
  The School Health Policies and Programs Study is a national survey periodically conducted to assess school health policies and programs at the state, district, school, and classroom levels.
• Technology and Youth: Protecting Your Child from Electronic Aggression.
  This tipsheet provides an overview of electronic aggression, any type of harassment or bullying that occurs through e-mail, a chat room, instant messaging, a website (including blogs), or text messaging. It provides parents and caregivers with strategies for protecting children from this type of violence.
• The Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Programs for the Prevention of Violence [PDF 590KB]
  During 2004--2006, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services (Task Force) reviewed published scientific evidence on the effectiveness of universal school-based programs to reduce or prevent violent behavior. This evidence proves that these programs decrease rates of violence and aggressive behavior among school-aged children. All grade levels demonstrated program effects, and an independent meta-analysis confirmed and supplemented these findings. Consequently, the Task Force recommends using universal school-based programs to prevent or reduce violent behavior.
• Therapeutic Foster Care for the Prevention of Violence
  The Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent nonfederal task force, conducted a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of therapeutic foster care in preventing violence. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations.
• Training Healthcare Professionals in the Prevention of Youth Violence
  This supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine provides a rationale for training in youth violence prevention, supplies case studies, and focuses on efforts of CDC's Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention.
  Citation: American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2005; 29 (5S2)
• Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet [PDF 185KB]
  This fact sheet provides basic information on school violence. It is intended for the general public.
• Understanding Youth Violence Fact Sheet [PDF 154KB]
  This 2-page fact sheet provides basic information on youth violence. It is intended for the general public.
• Youth Involvement in Community Violence Prevention
  This issue of the Community Youth Development Journal explores what is and is not known about the participation of youth in community violence prevention.
• Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General
  This report--the first Surgeon General's report on youth violence-- reviews a massive body of research on where, when, and how much youth violence occurs, what causes it, and which of today's many preventive strategies are genuinely effective. 
• Youth Violence:  Facts at a Glance [PDF 79KB]
  This fact sheet provides up-to-date data and statistics on youth violence.
• Youth Violence Prevention: The Science of Moving Research to Practice
  This supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine highlights some of the challenges encountered in implementing interventions in the context of prevention research targeted at very young children and their families.
  Citation: American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2001; 20 (1S)

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