Public Health Minute: Seizing the Moment to Address Intimate Partner Violence.

The media spotlight still shines brightly around the case of Ray Rice, the NFL player who punched his girlfriend — now wife — in a casino elevator, knocking her unconscious and triggering an unprecedented focus on domestic violence.

Rice initially received a minor two-game suspension after the February incident until a video surfaced showing the full extent of the horrific assault. The Baltimore Ravens ended his contract with the team and the NFL issued an indefinite suspension, which Rice and his wife appealed on Nov. 6.

The incident, and the subsequent backlash against the NFL’s handling of it, have elevated the subject of intimate partner violence to new heights of awareness, but how can experts in violence prevention turn that awareness into action?

That was the question posed to Emily Rothman, an associate professor of community health sciences, who has published widely on the topic of interpersonal violence and is currently working on an intervention designed to help teens and young adults identify potential conflict triggers and develop pathways to peaceful resolution. The program, being implemented with colleagues at Boston Medical Center, is aimed at breaking the cycle of domestic violence early and effectively.