Priority Poll 2018 Prevention

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) seeks feedback from the 60 state and 
territory sexual assault coalitions and 55 Rape Prevention Education grantees at state and 
territory Departments of Health on prevention priorities in the biannual Priority Poll. Below are the 
top three priorities related to the prevention of sexual violence.

In total 55 state and territory health departments and sexual violence coalitions participated in the survey

Compared to the 2016 prevention poll, responses increased by over 37%. 
Responses highlighted the same top priorities this year.

Social Norms Change

Our culture’s social norms tolerate sexual 
violence. Social norms are unwritten rules on how 
to behave. Harmful social norms permit people to 
hurt others in ways that are socially acceptable 
and without consequence.1 

Primary Prevention

Primary prevention takes place before sexual 
violence occurs to prevent victimization.2 The 
goal of primary prevention efforts is to decrease 
the number of individuals who commit sexual 
violence and thus the number of individuals who 
are victimized.

Bystander Intervention

A bystander is someone who intervenes when 
they see or hear something that promotes 
sexual violence.3

Other top identified priorities included prevention work with communities of color and engaging men and boys.


1 World Health Organization. (2009). Violence prevention: the evidence: Changing cultural and social norms that support violence. 
Retrieved from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/norms.pdf

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2004). Sexual violence prevention: Beginning the dialogue. Retrieved from 
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/svprevention-a.pdf

3 National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2015). Engaging bystanders. Retrieved from 
https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/2015-01/publications_nsvrc_factsheet_media-packet_engaging-bystanders_0.pdf

www.nsvrc.org | resources@nsvrc.org | (877) 739-3895 

© 2018 National Sexual Violence Resource Center.