Preventing violence against women and girls - what works: evidence summary

Annex A: Prevention levels

According to the WHO (2002a) World report on violence and health, violence prevention levels should be understood as:

• Primary prevention – approaches that aim to prevent violence before it occurs
• Secondary prevention – approaches that focus on the more immediate responses to violence, such as pre-hospital care, emergency services or treatment for sexually transmitted diseases following a rape. Secondary prevention also seeks to prevent further acts of violence (ScotPHN, 2019)
• Tertiary prevention – approaches that focus on long-term care in the wake of violence, such as rehabilitation and reintegration, and attempts to lessen trauma or reduce the long-term disability associated with violence. Tertiary prevention also seeks to prevent further acts of violence (ScotPHN, 2019)

ScotPHN (2019:9) Violence Prevention Framework succinctly describes primary^[123] prevention within a public health approach as applying:

programmes, policy interventions and advocacy to prevent violence before it occurs, guided by the four stage process, i.e. a statistical and theoretical knowledge of violence and its risk factors, with testing of interventions and evaluation of what works.

In relation to interventions specifically, this Framework outlines that:

if we actively want to reduce new cases of violence in Scotland, significant weight must be placed on a shared understanding of the public health approach with the effective pursuit of primary prevention as a key constituent of this (ScotPHN, 2019:9).