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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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Eye Care Community Outreach (ECCO) (Marion County & Surrounding Counties, IN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: ECCO seeks to improve access to vision health care services for uninsured and low-income individuals.

Florida's Marriage and Family Support Initiatives (Florida)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide comprehensive statewide strategies for Florida to promote violence-free, substance-abuse-free, respectful, nurturing families based on the foundation of a healthy marriage relationship between parents.

Kids Walk-to-School Day (Washington)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the KidsWalk-to-School program is to encourage physical activity as an integral part of a child’s daily routine, promote the development of safe walking and bicycling routes, and teach safe pedestrian practices to potentially reduce injury among children.

Setting up a Building Components Exchange in Basel (Switzerland)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban

Goal: The program aims to both reduce waste disposal of usable building materials and create long-term jobs by dismantling, transporting, cleaning, presenting and selling the components.

The Care Team Network (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to use a team model to offer practical, emotional, and spiritual support to individuals and families with health care concerns or other special needs.

Asthma Outreach Program (Seattle)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goals of the project were to assess the feasibility of the Asthma Outreach Worker model and evaluate any impact on unscheduled health service use for asthma.

Food Stamps and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) at Arizona Farmer's Markets (Arizona)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance

Goal: To help low-income people increase their access to healthy foods while building community and economic assets through local food production and distribution.

My Mouth Matters (England)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: The goal of My Mouth Matters was to raise dental health awareness, improve knowledge, and reduce plaque.

Yes We Can Urban Asthma Partnership (San Francisco, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Yes We Can Urban Asthma Partnership is to improve asthma control among low-income children with asthma.

A Disinfection and Hand Hygiene Program for Schools (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Adults, Families

Goal: To reduce gastrointestinal and respiratory illness-related absenteeism in elementary school students by using surface disinfectants.

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.