The Evidence for Violence Prevention Across the Lifespan and Around the World: Workshop Summary

The Evidence for Violence Prevention Across the Lifespan and Around the World is the summary of a workshop convened in January 2013 by the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Global Violence Prevention to explore value and application of the evidence for violence prevention across the lifespan and around the world. As part of the Forum’s mandate is to engage in multisectoral, multidirectional dialogue that explores crosscutting approaches to violence prevention, this workshop examined how existing evidence for violence prevention can continue to be expanded, disseminated, and implemented in ways that further the ultimate aims of improved individual well-being and safer communities. This report examines violence prevention interventions that have been proven to reduce different types of violence (e.g., child and elder abuse, intimate partner and sexual violence, youth and collective violence, and self-directed violence), identifies the common approaches most lacking in evidentiary support, and discusses ways that proven effective interventions can be integrated or otherwise linked with other prevention programs.