Statement of Purpose The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds health departments in all 50 states, DC, and 4 US territories to implement sexual violence (SV) prevention strategies through the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) program. Although the evidence-base for SV prevention has grown in the last decade, most RPE awardees implement prevention strategies they developed in practice. Some practice-based strategies may have potential for public health impact, but they have not been evaluated. CDC used the Systematic Screening and Assessment (SSA) Method to identify prevention strategies in practice that are ready for more evaluation.

Methods The SSA Method includes six steps and integrates a review of nominated prevention strategies by subject matter experts with evaluability assessment. CDC solicited nominations from RPE awardees and sub-awardees within three focus areas: (1) creating safe and protective environments, (2) promoting healthy social norms that protect against SV, and (3) using gender equity approaches. A group of 12 independent reviewers rated these prevention strategies using 11 criteria and met to discuss top-rated nominations.

Results CDC received 40 nominations and selected 20 prevention strategies for onsite evaluability assessment based on ratings and expert input. Site visitors then conducted evaluability assessments and developed summary reports for independent reviewers to rate. Presenters will describe findings from the first round of evaluability assessments and highlight innovations within the SV field.

Conclusions/Significance Using the SSA Method can greatly advance the injury prevention field by identifying a large pool of prevention strategies that may be ready for more evaluation and using less resource-intensive methods to prioritise strategies with the greatest potential for public health impact prior to investing in rigorous evaluations. The SSA also brings together innovations that already have traction in a field with scientific methods, which could accelerate the widespread adoption of evidence-based prevention strategies.