This book evolved from a workshop on preventing IPV that we organized and convened in May, 2014 in Arlington, Virginia. We were motivated by our observation that over the past four decades, the majority of resources to address IPV have been expended on providing services to victims and on criminal justice responses to increase perpetrator accountability. Although these foci are not unimportant, far less attention has been given to preventing IPV from occurring, despite mounting evidence that IPV is preventable. Over the course of two days, teams of researchers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds and fields explored the “state of the art” of IPV prevention. The discussion addressed several key questions:

• • How should “success” in IPV prevention be defined and measured?

• • What are the ongoing challenges to effective outreach, especially to underserved populations?

• • Which prevention programs have been identified through rigorous empirical evaluation to hold significant promise in terms of positive outcomes?

• • What are the most pressing priorities in terms of preventing IPV moving forward?

The chapters in this book represent workshop participants’ answers to these questions. Each chapter examines critical issues in IPV prevention at the individual, community, and systems levels. The authors present an overview of the extant evidence from current evaluations of promising, innovative prevention programs, including those designed to meet the needs of underserved groups, in the US and throughout the world. In addition, the chapters present collaborative, interdisciplinary work to identify gaps in knowledge about IPV prevention, and to offer recommendations for future research on and prioritizing of prevention strategies.The workshop was funded by the Law and Social Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF; Award No. 1341983) in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

We wish to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Marjorie Zatz, Program Director of the Law and Social Science Program at NSF at the time of the workshop; Dr. Zatz's successor, Dr. Helena Silverstein; and Dr. Bethany Backes, Social Science Analyst, Violence and Victimization Research Division at NIJ, for their support and advice during the planning and delivery of the workshop and with post-workshop activities. The opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this book are those of the editors and authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF, NIJ, or the US government.