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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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Kaiser Permanente Heart Healthy: Cardiovascular tools and protocols (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: To reduce death from heart disease among their members in Northern California.

Latinos Using Cardio Health Action to Reduce Risk (LUCHAR) (Denver)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote healthy behaviors, including physical activity and health eating, among Latinos.

Let’s Move! (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: Let’s Move! is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation so that kids born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams.

Project Making a Group and Individual Difference (MAGIC) (Elko, NV)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Rural

Goal: The goal of Project MAGIC is to help juvenile offenders leave the criminal justice system.

Raising Healthy Children (Seattle, WA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Families

Goal: The Raising Healthy Children program is a social development approach to positive youth development.

Reaching Educators, Children, and Parents (RECAP) (Nashville, TN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children

Goal: The primary goal of the program is to reduce the level of children's psychological problems, as well as preventing the development of more serious problems among children who are not referred for formal mental health services.

Support Healthy Active Kids in Education (SHAKE) (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the SHAKE program is to use elementary school-based programming to promote childhood health and fitness.

The Healthy Hawaii Initiative (Hawaii)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve health and increase physical activity in Hawaii.

Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to facilitate trauma recovery among women with histories of exposure to sexual and physical abuse.

Impact: Studies demonstrated that TREM participants showed a significant reduction in severity of problems related to substance use from baseline to 12-month follow-up relative to the comparison group. Reduced trauma symptoms were also significantly greater for the intervention group than for the comparison group at 12-month follow-up. Furthermore, the intervention group had significantly reduced symptoms of psychological problems 1 year after the intervention.

Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is to influence the final version of Baltimore’s new zoning code by informing stakeholders and decision-makers about the new zoning code’s potential to create healthy communities and decrease health disparities, with an emphasis on preventing obesity and crime.

Impact: Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is an HIA of the Baltimore zoning code rewrite in order to maximize the potential to create healthier communities. Since publication, Baltimore has revised its zoning code to incorporate dispersal standards and other strategies related to placement of alcohol outlets.

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.