Dating violence primary prevention

A literature review

Abstract

A systematic review was carried out aimed to identify methodological and intervention characteristics of the studies that present primary prevention programs of dating violence. Fifteen studies, published between 1992 and 2010, were searched by computerized databases. They were codified and their data were categorized and quantified. The results revealed that the majority of the studies have experimental designs, without followup. They have focused on social skills, information on dating violence, attitudes and beliefs on gender roles Favorable evidence on the efficacy of multicomponent preventive programs was found, in opposition to the exclusively informative programs, which have shown poor evidence of efficacy. Implications of these findings for the development of dating violence preventive programs in the national context are discussed.