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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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Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Y)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Children, Teens, Adults, Rural

Goal: The goal of MTO was to impact behavior and lifestyle choices by changing neighborhood environments.

My Mouth Matters (England)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: The goal of My Mouth Matters was to raise dental health awareness, improve knowledge, and reduce plaque.

Preventing Marijuana Use through Establishing Conservative Norms in Adolescents (Los Angeles and Orange, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: To prevent use of marijuana altogether in adolescents by establishing conservative norms.

Project SAFE (San Antonio, TX)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Project SAFE is to reduce new Chlamydia and gonorrhea infections by reducing risky sexual behaviors.

Project Students Helping Others Understand Tobacco (SHOUT) (San Diego County, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Project Students Helping Others Understand Tobacco (SHOUT) is to use a school-based curriculum to prevent tobacco use among adolescents.

Promoting Youth Volunteerism with a Multi-District Council (Boyd County, KY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children

Goal: The goal was for school administrators to coordinate efforts across districts for students to learn about volunteer opportunities and to become youth volunteers, as well as to teach character education and the merits of volunteerism in the elementary schools.

Protecting You/Protecting Me

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the curriculum is to prevent injury and death of children and youth due to alcohol-related incidents.

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.

Reducing the Risk: Building Skills to Prevent Pregnancy, STD and HIV (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety

Goal: The goal of the Reducing the Risk curriculum is to increase knowledge about contraceptive use and protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

RESPECT: Brief Counseling plus Booster (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of RESPECT: Brief Counseling plus Booster intervention is to reduce sex risk behaviors and decrease new STD infection.

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.