Despite advances in the sexual violence (SV) prevention field, practitioners still face challenges with identifying indicators to measure the impact of their prevention strategies. Public data, such as existing administrative and surveillance system data, may be a good option for organizations to examine trends in indicators for the purpose of program evaluation. In this article, we describe a framework and a process for identifying indicators with public data. Specifically, we present the SV Indicator Framework and a five-step indicator review process, which we used to identify indicators for a national SV prevention program. We present the findings of the indicator review and explain how the process could be used by evaluators and program planners within other developing topic areas. Tracking indicators with public data, in conjunction with other evaluation methods, may be a viable option for state-level program evaluations. We discuss limitations and implications for practice and research.

According to 2011 data, nearly one in four women and one in seven men in the United States experience severe physical violence by an intimate partner, creating a public health burden requiring population-level solutions. To prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) before it occurs, the CDC developed Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances, Focusing on Outcomes for Communities United with States to identify promising community- and societal-level prevention strategies to prevent IPV. The program funds 10 state domestic violence coalitions for 5 years to implement and evaluate programs and policies to prevent IPV by influencing the environments and conditions in which people live, work, and play. The program evaluation goals are to promote IPV prevention by identifying promising prevention strategies and describing those strategies using case studies, thereby creating a foundation for building practice-based evidence with a health equity approach.