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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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Teens on Target (TNT) (Oakland, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: Program goals include educating and training young people from some of the most life-threatening neighborhoods of Oakland to enable them to participate in making their lives, their neighborhoods, and their communities safer and healthier, and educating policy makers, community members, and the media on the impact of violence on youth and violence prevention strategies.

Telephone Outreach to Increase Colon Cancer Screening (New York, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this telephone outreach program was to increase colorectal cancer screening in a predominantly lower- to moderate-income African American population.

TelePsych (Waco, Texas)

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

Goal: Baylor Scott & White started TelePsych because many of its hospitals do not have any psychologists or psychiatrists on staff. The Hillcrest hospital in particular has seen an increase in patients needing acute mental health care. Its location next to the highway and the dearth of other trauma centers means that the hospital receives 1-2 patients per day with acute mental health needs. Hillcrest has licensed medical social workers in the Emergency Department but struggled without an actual psychologist or psychiatrist available. Their goal in implementing TelePsych was to move mental health patients through the continuum of care efficiently and with empathy.

Impact: The hospital staff at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest has been very impressed with the implementation and ease of use of the TelePsych process and system. Patient satisfaction has increased and staff are able to move patients through the next level of care more efficiently.

Text Reminders for Immunization Compliance in Kids (TRICKs): A Demonstration Project (Wichita, KS)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of TRICKs was to reach out to parents using a novel reminder system and increase immunization rates at the KU pediatric clinic.

Impact: There was a significant increase in immunization rate following the implementation of parent text reminders when compared to the initial immunization rate.

The AgSTAR Program (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of AgStar is to reduce methane emissions at confined animal feedlot operations by promoting the use of biogas recovery systems.

The Backyard Initiative (Minneapolis, MN)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Backyard Initiative is to improve health and health care.

The Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan (Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester, SC)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation

Goal: The Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan is based on three principles:

(1) Children should be able to safely walk and bike to school if they and their parents so choose.

(2) Roadways should equally accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.

(3) Bicycling and walking should become a routine part of daily activity in the BCD region.

The Black Infant Health Program (Antelope Valley, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Black Infant Health Program aims to reduce African-American infant mortality through the Social Support and Empowerment model - a faith-based program which seeks to:

- Educate
- Ensure access to care for at-risk pregnant and parenting women and their infants.

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program (Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the quality of life for women diagnosed with cancer.

The Bright Beginnings Infant Mortality Reduction Program (Prince George's County, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Bright Beginnings seeks to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes among Prince George's low-income, medically underserved women and children.

Impact: Bright Beginnings has provided services to thousands of women to help reduce infant mortality and prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes. The program has been noted as a promising practice by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene since 2010.

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.