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 Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children
Goal: The goal of the MEND program is to reduce obesity levels in children by offering free healthy living programs that aim to encourage small lifestyle changes that improve health.
Impact: The MEND program was successful in reducing waist circumferences and BMI scores while increasing cardiovascular fitness, physical activity, and self esteem in children placed within the intervention group. The results of this study suggest that the MEND program is a promising intervention to combat rising child obesity rates.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of Mobile CCL is to foster a higher level of client engagement and motivation in the treatment/recovery process.
Impact: As a web-based client portal to care management, Mobile CCL is enabling the integration of behavioral health treatment with primary care.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Urban
Goal: The MoodGYM and Blue Pages websites aim to alleviate depression symptoms and increase understanding of depression using the Internet.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults, Women, Men
Goal: The goal of the promising practice is to reduce binge-drinking behavior in college students using motivational interviewing and personalized feedback techniques.
Impact: At an eight-week follow-up, all four groups reduced their consumption, peak BAC, consequences, and dependence symptoms.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of the National Capital Asthma Coalition is to form partnerships between organizations to improving the care and outcomes for children and adults with asthma.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens
Goal: The mission is to provide a multi-disciplinary program that prepares students for 21st century careers by giving them community based involvement. The hope of this project is for the students to connect content knowledge, acquired skills, and work habits to real world situations and issues.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Urban
Goal: The program has three primary goals:
1) to improve pregnancy outcomes by promoting health-related behaviors;
2) to improve child health, development and safety by promoting competent care-giving; and
3) to enhance parent life-course development by promoting pregnancy planning, educational achievement, and employment.
The program also has two secondary goals: to enhance families' material support by providing links with needed health and social services, and to promote supportive relationships among family and friends.
Impact: The Nurse Family Partnership Program has shown to improve pregnancy outcomes, improve child health and development, and increase economic self-sufficiency.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women
Goal: The program has three primary goals:
1) to improve pregnancy outcomes by promoting health-related behaviors;
2) to improve child health, development and safety by promoting competent care-giving; and
3) to enhance parent life-course development by promoting pregnancy planning, educational achievement, and employment.
The program also has two secondary goals: to enhance families’ material support by providing links with needed health and social services, and to promote supportive relationships among family and friends.
Impact: Evaluations of the program have shown that women who were visited by nurses had significantly better outcomes than those who did not in terms of measures such as maternal health, maternal life-course development, child health and safety, and adolescent measures of delinquency.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Families
Goal: The goal of the On-Call Services program is to provide information about domestic violence and the legal system to survivors of abuse. The program also offers legal advocacy for court hearings and meetings with the police, prosecutor, and other involved attorneys, probation, and others.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Poverty, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program was to help poor families build up their “human capital” and avoid long-term poverty.