Free Violence Prevention Course

Violence hurts everyone—individuals, our communities, and our nation. Find out how to stop it before it starts with CDC's violence prevention course.

Each year, more than 54,000 people lose their lives to violence. In addition to the tremendous physical and emotional toll, violence has substantial medical, lost productivity, and other costs. In 2000, these totaled more than $70 billion in the United States. The figure grows when we add criminal justice system costs, social services, and other expenses.

As Dr. Howard Spivak, director of CDC's Division of Violence Prevention, says, "Violence isn't something that just happens that you can't do anything about. It can be prevented."

One way CDC is helping the nation prevent violence is a free on-line course that's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's called Principles of Prevention. For more information, visit www.vetoviolence.org/pop.

The course—which offers continuing education credits—teaches key concepts of primary prevention, the public health approach, and the social-ecological model. Participants complete interactive exercises to learn to help prevent five types of violence:

• Child abuse and neglect
• Intimate partner violence
• Sexual violence
• Suicide
• Youth violence

Principles of Prevention is designed for those working to stop violence from ever happening. It helps professionals move from the problem to the solution.

This course teaches the fundamentals of effective violence prevention methods and incorporates the growing body of research on what works.

The Principles of Prevention course includes:

• Interviews with leading experts in the field
• Dynamic graphics
• Interactive exercises
• Compelling storytelling that makes the case for violence prevention

CDC Committed to Preventing Violence

CDC is committed to preventing violence and the injuries and deaths that result from it. Our Division of Violence

Prevention works to:

• Monitor injuries caused by violence
• Research what puts people at risk or protects them from violence
• Create violence prevention programs
• Help states and local communities plan, start, and evaluate prevention programs
• Research what works in adopting and sharing prevention strategies.

More Information

• Veto Violence
• Violence Prevention