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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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Reducing the Risk- Rural schools (Arkansas)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of the program was to reduce the risk for pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease by one or more of the following behaviors: a delay in initiating sexual intercourse; a reduction in the number of sexual partners and acts of intercourse; or an increase in contraception use.

Seat Belt Promotion in North Carolina (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase seat belt use through interactive road signs and law enforcement.

STEP (School Transitional Environmental Program) (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Teens

Goal: The goals of this program are to decrease student anonymity, to increase student accountability, and to enhance students' abilities to learn school rules and exceptions.

Sunwise Stampede: Promoting Sun Safety among Zoo Visitors (San Diego, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Children, Families

Goal: To encourage and increase safe sun behaviors in children and adults by limiting their exposure to ultraviolet rays through the use of sunscreen and hat wear.

The NineZero Project (Riverside, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Women

Goal: The goal of the program was to reduce Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and encourage zero alcohol use by pregnant women through educational and social marketing techniques for select target groups.

Impact: The NineZero program increased knowledge regarding FAS, and also showed that an approach with more emphasis on health education principles that have been shown to be effective in changing other substance use behaviors would have a more successful effect on attitudes, beliefs, and intentions.

VERB: It’s what you do. (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens

Goal: The mission of “VERB: It’s what you do” was to increase and maintain physical activity among youth aged 9 to 13 through a national social marketing campaign.

A Model For Increasing Availability Of Community-Based Cancer Trials (Maryland)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase the availability of cancer trials and increase patient enrollment in cancer trials in an underserved rural community in Maryland.

ACCESS to Healthcare Information for Culturally Diverse Populations Project (Oneida County, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the ACCESS to Healthcare Information for Culturally Diverse Populations Project is to reduce health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse populations within the community.

Arthritis Self-Help Course (Pasco County, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Other Conditions, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this course is to help participants with arthritis manage their pain so that they can exercise more, take less arthritis medication, and move with ease.

Bethlehem Police Family Group Conferencing Project (Bethlehem, PA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to divert young first-time offenders from court and into conferences where they can negotiate solutions with their families and their victims.

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.