Primary Prevention of Intimate-Partner Violence (IPV) in the Workplace Overview

The focus of this initial post is to lay the foundation for a discussion on the development and implementation of IPV primary prevention programs in the workplace.

Stemming from my conversations with various people involved in the Center of Disease Control’s DELTA project and their efforts to develop primary prevention programs in the workplace, I hope that this blog serves as a public forum to share ideas and resources. Though we have listservs and conference calls, this blog has the advantage of offering an easily accessible record of the information shared.

First, let us establish some language. For those that are not in the DELTA program and may not be familiar with the public health model of primary prevention, I wish to reference a colleague in an article that he wrote.

Donald L. Gault, the Healthy Communities Section Manager of the Saint Paul –Ramsey County Department of Public Health in Minnesota, heads off the pioneering initiative called the Workplace Action Team (WAT), one of the eight original Initiative Action Teams formed in 1990.
http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/PH/hi/viol_free_initiative.asp#Workplace

In the article titled, “Creating Respectful, Violence-Free, Productive Workplaces: A Comprehensive Approach”, he provides a short but clear description of the 3 levels of prevention and how primary prevention differs from many of the efforts currently being made.

“In Public Health there is a differentiation between Three Levels of Prevention: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. In Primary Prevention, no group nor individual is designated “high risk”; instead, approaches are designed to bring a message or skill set to an entire population in order to prevent those individuals from ever beginning a risky behavior or practice. In Secondary Prevention, prevention messages and tools are targeted to individuals and groups who are already engaged in potentially damaging behaviors, but are not yet showing any ill effects as a result. In Tertiary Prevention, or Intervention, strategies are geared toward people who are both engaged in risky behaviors and who are in need of treatment to address ill effects caused by these behaviors.”

So in short, many of the initiatives that Peace at Work and other programs offer focus more on secondary or tertiary prevention. Things such as developing domestic violence policies, implementing support and security measures and even promoting awareness by placing posters and brochures are not primary prevention. The violence is already there and these efforts are a response. This, however, is not say that the secondary or tertiary prevention efforts are not needed or have value. The question is how to stop IPV in the first place, using the workplace as a site or arena to access the community at large.

So what would primary prevention of IPV in the workplace look like?

If you have comments on my description of primary prevention, please post your comments here. My next post will focus more on what those programs may look like (and what they don’t).