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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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Corporation for Supportive Housing (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Urban

Goal: Corporation for Supportive Housing's mission is to help communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness.

Dental Caries (Cavities): Community Water Fluoridation

CDC

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health

Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends community water fluoridation to reduce tooth decay (i.e., dental caries or cavities).

Developing a Community Adult Literacy Program (Kellogg, ID)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Teens, Families, Rural

Goal: Since late 1996 the Silver Valley Learning Center has been helping students with low reading levels improve literacy and achieve personal educational goals. By offering these services, the Silver Valley Learning Center hopes to enhance self-esteem and motivation for the adults in its community, which can hedge against depression and related problems such as alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

Doors to Discovery (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families

Goal: The Doors to Discovery curriculum builds a foundation for literacy by focusing on children's vocabulary and expressive and receptive language skills.

Dramatic Health Education Project: STDs/HIV (Kansas City, MO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: The Coterie exists to provide professional classic and contemporary theater, which challenges the audience and artist alike, and to provide educational, dramatic outreach programs in the community. The Coterie seeks to open lines of communication between races, sexes and generations. The objectives of DHEP are to improve knowledge regarding HIV and STDs and reduce the intentions of teenagers to practice high-risk behavior. DHEP also continues to refine the culturally-specific dramatic workshops and ensure story lines are relevant to teenagers.

Impact: After watching this program, over 75% of students report that they would be less likely to practice high-risk sexual behavior.

Drinking Water Nitrification Surveillance Program (Lee County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health

Goal: The goal of this program is to detect nitrification in drinking water in order to protect infants under six months old from methemoglobinemia and prevent other consequential bacteriological problems.

DuPage Narcan Program (DuPage County, IL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to provide police departments, schools and others with Naloxone and proper training to save lives from heroin overdose and to provide individuals with a chance to recover.

Impact: In the first six months of the second year, 26 saves were recorded.

Employment Training Center (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Employment Training Center is to provide at-risk, low-income youth and young adults with training in the green construction field in order to help them gain vital life and employment skills and achieve self-sufficiency.

ENERGY STAR (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce energy usage in order to save on energy costs, increase energy reliability, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and improve national energy security. It is also an essential strategy for reducing natural gas prices and ensuring a balanced energy future in a growing economy.

EPA's Clean Water Act Recognition Awards (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The objectives of the program are to educate the public about the contributions that publicly-owned wastewater treatment facilities make to clean water; to encourage public support for municipal and industrial efforts in effective wastewater management, biosolids management, and wet weather pollution control; and to recognize communities that go much beyond the minimum needed to meet Clean Water Act requirements.

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.