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.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Urban
Goal: To reduce the number of individuals with mental illness who use the ER, to help individuals achieve long-term recovery, and to develop a community peer-based support network.
Impact: The Living Room is a comfortable, non-clinical space that offers an alternative to hospital emergency rooms. The program in LaGrange, Illinois hopes to decrease unnecessary hospitalizations.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Adults, Families
Goal: GAIN is part of a large-scale, welfare-to-work initiative program operating in every county in California. In L.A. County, the initiative is under the supervision of the Department of Public Social Services. It helps local businesses and employers find and hire quality workers who seek meaningful employment. Prospective workers are participants in the state welfare programs known as California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS) or General Relief Opportunities for Work (GROW).
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The MUSC Psychiatry Residency program has the following goals related to diversification of the health care professional pool:
- increased racial and ethnic diversity reflecting the general South Carolina population
- promotion of racial/ethnic and gender diversity in leadership positions within the School of Medicine
- promotion of cultural competency and understanding
- more opportunities within the College of Medicine at all levels for individuals from all backgrounds
Impact: The proportion of URM applicants to MUSC psychiatry residencies increased from 8% in 2008 to 17% in 2015. The percentage of URM psychiatry residents enrolled in MUSC has tripled over the last seven years, from 9% in 2008 to 28% in 2015.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families
Goal: The goals of the Seattle-King Healthy Homes project are: to increase knowledge of home environmental health threats and asthma self-management among households with a child who suffers from asthma; help households reduce environmental threats in the household; improve health status and reduce asthma-related medical care utilization.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of the progarm is to use online-based modules to promote protected sex and prevent HIV transmission among teens.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Tobacco Use
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends community mobilization combined with additional interventions such as stronger local laws directed at retailers, active enforcement of retailer sales laws, and retailer education with reinforcement on the basis of sufficient evidence of effectiveness in reducing youth tobacco use and access to tobacco products from commercial sources.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: This program is designed to reduce students' intentions to use alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.
Impact: Studies show that the program significantly reduces the proportion of students with intentions to drink alcohol and smoke. Participants also showed significantly increased use of personal and social skills, increased engagement in prosocial behaviors, and decreased engagement in inappropriate social behaviors.
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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families
Goal: Triple P aims to prevent maltreatment and behavioral, emotional and developmental problems in children by strenghtening the knowledge, skills and confidence of parents.
Impact: The program found a 25-35% reduction in child maltreatment, child maltreatment related hospitalizations and injuries, and foster home placements of children for young children at two-year followup of the program.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends interventions that reduce client out-of-pocket costs used alone or combined with additional interventions to increase vaccination rates among people of all ages in a range of settings and populations. This includes interventions for individual clinical settings, statewide programs, or national efforts.