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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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Project DIRECT (Diabetes Interventions Reaching and Educating Communities Together) (Raleigh, NC)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Project DIRECT is to improve diabetes prevention and care among African Americans in Raleigh, NC.

Public Health and Mental Health: A Model for Success (Jefferson County, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders

Goal: The goals of this program are:

-To provide staff with consultation, clinical support, education and training.
-To provide clients with initial assessment, brief counseling, and access/referral to mental health resources.

Sistering, Informing, Healing, Living, and Empowering (Birmingham, AL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens, Women

Goal: The SiHLE intervention aims to reduce sexual risk behaviors among sexually experienced African American adolescents.

Relationship Model for Accessing and Assessing Underserved Communities (St Louis, MO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The model was developed to improve the ability of the American Cancer Society (ACS), the organization with the lead role, to reach underserved communities in order to increase colorectal cancer screening.

The CrossPoints Project: Using Virtual Reality to Teach Pedestrian Safety to Children (Ontario, Canada)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the CrossPoints Project is to use a Virtual Reality software program to teach pedestrian safety to children.

5-A-Day Power Plus (St. Paul, MN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: To increase fruit and vegetable consumption among children using a multi-component approach.

Be Active Kids® (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Be Active Kids program is to promote healthy lifestyles and good healthy by giving young children the tools they need to develop positive physical activity and nutrition habits.

Communal Effectance - AIDS Prevention

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Women, Urban

Goal: The goal of the CE-AP intervention is to reduce behaviors that put women at risk for sexually transmitted disease (STD) and HIV transmission.

First-grade Gardeners More Likely to Taste Vegetables (California)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of garden-based education programs for elementary-school students in order to develop and evaluate a comprehensive, garden-enhanced nutrition education program for elementary students.

Parents As Teachers

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Families

Goal: The mission of this program is to provide the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.

Impact: The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program had no effect on improving child or parent outcomes.

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.