Second, the population surveyed may not be representative of Louisiana. Because persons without telephones were not surveyed, and because of the low response rate, nonparticipants may differ from participants on study outcomes. However, the racial composition of survey participants was representative of the state. A population-based survey may help characterize the burden of stalking and other types of interpersonal violence. However, the identification of victims in health-care and law enforcement settings also may help characterize persons at high risk for injury from stalking and enable referral of those persons for services and secondary prevention activities.
Surveillance is the basis for the epidemiologic approach to public health problems.
If violence prevention is to be approached using the public health model, an accurate description of the problem is the first step. All rights reserved.