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Promising Practices

The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.

The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.

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Low Literacy Intervention to Promote Discussion of Prostate Cancer (Atlanta, GA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Men

Goal: To educate men over the age of 45 about prostate cancer and to increase prostate cancer screening in order to reduce the incidence of prostate cancer.

Positive Youth Development Program (New Haven, CT)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens

Goal: To increase social competence and decrease substance abuse among sixth and seventh grade students.

Prescription for Health Diabetes Project (Homestead and Florida City, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Prescription for Health Diabetes Project was to improve health outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes through culturally-appropriate interventions.

Present and Prevent (Florida)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens

Goal: The purpose of Present and Prevent is to educate teens about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent obesity.

Preventing Marijuana Use through Establishing Conservative Norms in Adolescents (Los Angeles and Orange, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Urban

Goal: To prevent use of marijuana altogether in adolescents by establishing conservative norms.

Promoting Youth Volunteerism with a Multi-District Council (Boyd County, KY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children

Goal: The goal was for school administrators to coordinate efforts across districts for students to learn about volunteer opportunities and to become youth volunteers, as well as to teach character education and the merits of volunteerism in the elementary schools.

Public Health and Mental Health: A Model for Success (Jefferson County, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders

Goal: The goals of this program are:

-To provide staff with consultation, clinical support, education and training.
-To provide clients with initial assessment, brief counseling, and access/referral to mental health resources.

RealBenefits (Boston, MA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Families

Goal: The goals of RealBenefits are to allow users to 1) maximize benefits designed to promote self-sufficiency and stability for low-income families and their communities; 2) create capacity in public and private health and human service agencies that increases services offered to low-income families and maximizes revenues; and 3) promote change in public benefit application systems.

The Medication Assistance Program (MAP) (Grant County, NM)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults, Rural

Goal: The mission of the Health Council is to enhance the quality of life in Grant County, New Mexico, through assessment of needs, planning and prioritizing, and coordinating of efforts to meet those needs.

Women's Initiative (San Francisco, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Women, Urban

Goal: The goal of Women's Initiative is to help low-income women start their own businesses.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.