Prevention – Training Subcommittee Recommendations

Programs to prevent: The term programs to prevent refers to comprehensive 

educational and training programs intended to prevent violence that incorporate 

diverse approaches that are culturally relevant, inclusive of diverse communities 

and identities, sustainable, responsive to community needs, and consider risk 

and protective factors as they occur on the individual, relationship, community 

and societal levels.

Primary prevention: The term primary prevention refers to programming, 

initiatives and strategies intended to stop domestic violence, dating violence, 

sexual assault, or stalking before it occurs to prevent initial perpetration or 

victimization through the promotion of positive and healthy behaviors and 

beliefs. Efforts to change behavior and social norms, and promote healthy 

relationships, healthy sexuality and egalitarian gender roles, or efforts to 

understand risk factors and protective factors for bystander inaction and change 

social norms around bystander inaction are all examples of primary prevention.

Awareness programs: The term awareness programs refers to programs, 

campaigns, or initiatives that increase audience knowledge of the issues of 

sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking and share 

information and resources to prevent interpersonal violence, promote safety, and 

reduce perpetration. These efforts can include campus communitywide 

mobilizations as well as targeted audience-specific programming (including 

both students and employees). Awareness month campaigns, “Speak Outs,”

rallies or marches, informational poster campaigns or resource websites, and 

educational programming that focus on sharing resources and information about 

these issues are examples of awareness programs.

Bystander intervention: The term bystander intervention refers to safe and 

positive options that may be carried out by an individual or individuals to 

prevent harm or intervene in situations of potential harm when there is a risk of 

domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking against a person 

other than the individual. Effective bystander intervention training prepares 

participants to recognize situations of potential harm, overcome barriers to 

intervening, identify safe and effective intervention options, and take action.
Risk reduction: The term risk reduction refers to approaches that seek to 

mitigate risk factors that may increase the likelihood of perpetration, 

victimization, or bystander inaction. Risk reduction focuses on helping 

individuals and communities address the institutional structures or cultural 

conditions that facilitate SV, DV & stalking to increase safety. Examples of 

risk reduction may include but are not limited to general crime prevention 

education, campus escort programs, programs that educate on how to create 

individual and community safety plans and strategies, and bystander 

intervention programs that educate the campus on how to recognize and 

interrupt situations of harm, or implementing a communications system that can 

notify the entire campus community of immediate threats to security.

Ongoing awareness and prevention campaigns: The term ongoing awareness 

and prevention campaigns refers to campaigns that are sustained over time 

focusing on increasing awareness or understanding of topics relevant to SA, DV 

and stalking prevention. These programs will occur at different levels 

throughout the institution (i.e., faculty, athletics, incoming students) and will 

utilize a range of strategies. Ongoing awareness and prevention campaigns may 

include information about what constitutes sexual assault, dating 

violence/intimate partner abuse, and stalking, changing social norms, promoting 

recognition of perpetrator tactics, enhancing understanding of consent, and 

advancing prosocial behaviors of individuals and communities. Effective 

ongoing awareness and prevention campaigns will include developmentally 

appropriate content for the specific audience and their knowledge and awareness 

level and provide positive and concrete ways for individuals to get involved.