Throughout this Manual, we use the terms “domestic violence” and “intimate partner violence” (IPV) interchangeably. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “intimate partner violence (IPV) – also called domestic violence, battering, or spouse abuse – is violence committed by a spouse, ex-spouse, or current or former boyfriend or girlfriend. It can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and is often a repeated offense." (Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). Atlanta, Georgia, 2003.)

Violence can take several forms and exists along a continuum from emotional abuse to verbal abuse to physical abuse, with other forms of abuse, including financial, spiritual and sexual abuse, being frequently linked. Non-physical forms of abuse often accompany and even set the stage for physical abuse. This continuum of abuse also is indicative of the social and cultural norms that allow the abuse of power and control in domestic and intimate partner behaviors.

At this time in the evolution of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness approaches as applied to domestic violence prevention, placing an economic cost onto non-physical abuse is even more challenging than placing an economic cost onto physical abuse. However, as a better understanding of the valuation of domestic violence prevention programs emerges, recognition of the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of violence prevention programs such as violence prevention education – whether a program addresses only physical abuse or chooses to also address its precursor, non-physical violence – will be further clarified.