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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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Iowa's Repeat Intoxicated Driver Program (Iowa)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation

Goal: The main objectives of the Repeat Intoxicated Driver project are to decrease the incidence of individuals operating while intoxicated (OWI).

It's Your Game: Keep It Real (Texas)

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

Goal: The goal of It's Your Game: Keep It Real is to reduce teen pregnancy, prevent STI transmission, and delay teen sexual activity in middle school students.

Impact: Participants in the It’s Your Game: Keep It Real intervention program were less likely to initiate sex by the ninth grade when compared to the control group.

Jewish Vocational Service Programs for Youth with Disabilities (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The Jewish Vocational Service's (JVS) mission is to bring people and work together. The organization accomplishes this by linking employers and individuals together to achieve the employment goals of the Jewish community by providing the skills necessary for success in today's workplace. JVS links employers and individuals to work together to achieve their employment goals through high quality customer service, innovative program strategies, and the use of new technologies.

Job Corps

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Children

Goal: As a national, primarily residential training program, Job Corps' mission is to attract eligible young adults, teach them the skills they need to become employable and independent, and place them in meaningful jobs or further education.

Impact: Evaluations showed that Job Corps substantially increased the education and training that program participants received. Nearly 90% of the program group engaged in some education or training (both in and out of Job Corps), compared with about 64% of the control group.

Juma Ventures' Individual Development Accounts (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Children

Goal: The IDA program is designed to help young people enter the financial mainstream, gain financial stability and build assets.

Kaiser Kids Sun Care Program (Colorado)

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

Goal: To increase sun protection behaviors in early childhood.

Kaiser Permanente Dental Care Program Smokeless Tobacco Cessation Intervention (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Men

Goal: The goal of this dental office based intervention is to reduce smokeless tobacco use and other tobacco use.

Impact: The dental office-based intervention succeeded in increasing the rates of smokeless tobacco cessation among participants.

La Posada Hotel (Winslow, Arizona)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Economic Climate

Goal: The goal of the restoration of La Posada Hotel was to preserve and restore the hotel as a historic landmark, and to reinvigorate the economy of Winslow, Arizona.

Lawndale Health Promotion Project (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Lawndale Health Promotion Project was to eliminate health disparities in type 2 diabetes and heart disease among Hispanics and African Americans.

Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the Lions Quest program is to promote healthy, safe, and drug-free behaviors in youth.

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.