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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Teen Health Project is to provide adolescents with the skills necessary to prevent HIV risk behaviors.
Impact: The Teen Health Project shows that community-level interventions that include skills training and engage adolescents in neighborhood-based HIV prevention activities can produce and maintain reductions in sexual risk behavior, including delaying sexual debut and increasing condom use.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The Ambulatory Integration of the Medical and Social (AIMS) model aims to address social and environmental factors patients face that may prevent them from following their plan of care, thus impacting their health.
Impact: The AIMS model helps create better supported, less stressed, and better informed consumers and caregivers. There is also evidence to suggest that this model reduces ED usage and 30-day readmissions in participants.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The program aimed to increase the rate of cervical cancer screening in Chinese women living in North America in response to research findings of significantly lower cervical cancer screening rates in Chinese women.
Impact: This intervention program found that women who received an intervention had cervical cancer screenings at a higher rate than those who did not receive any intervention. This shows that culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions might help improve Pap testing rates among Chinese women.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens, Adults
Goal: The Connect Project is a community-based youth suicide prevention program that works to develop a shared knowledge and understanding of suicide prevention within a community.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The Diabetes Self-Management Program is a group workshop that educates individuals with diabetes on techniques to help them manage their disease and live more active lives.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: Reduce hospital/nursing home readmissions and improve care for older adults.
Impact: Reduced 30-day readmission rate from 18.2 to 8.9 percent over the course of 2 years, resulting in estimated savings of more than $17 million through 1,804 avoided readmissions.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The mission of the Green House Project is to partner with organizations, advocates, and communities to lead the transformation of institutional long-term care by creating viable homes where elders and others enjoy excellent quality of life and quality of care.
Impact: Studies showed that Green House homes are likely to reduce hospitalization rates among residents, and Medicare and Medicaid costs per resident, when compared to residents in traditional nursing homes. Also, nurses are more likely to spend more hours in Green House homes.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Healthy Diabetes Plate was to increase understandability and accessibility of diabetes nutrition education for people living with diabetes.
Impact: The Healthy Diabetes Plate curriculum solves two problems encountered in diabetes education — understandability and accessibility. Participants were able to correctly plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals and improved their intake of fruit and vegetables.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families
Goal: The Incredible Years® Parents, Teachers, and Children Training Series has two long-range goals. The first goal is to develop comprehensive treatment programs for young children with early onset conduct problems. The second goal is the development of cost-effective, community-based, universal prevention programs that all families and teachers of young children can use to promote social competence and to prevent children from developing conduct problems in the first place.
Impact: Studies have shown that children who participate in the programs demonstrate significant improvements in school readiness, emotional regulation, and social skills, as well as reductions in behavior problems in the classroom.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families
Goal: The goals of the Seattle-King Healthy Homes project are: to increase knowledge of home environmental health threats and asthma self-management among households with a child who suffers from asthma; help households reduce environmental threats in the household; improve health status and reduce asthma-related medical care utilization.