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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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Improving African American Participation Rates in Health Intervention Research (Minnesota)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To improve participation of African Americans in health promotion and intervention research.

In Our Own Back Yard (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children

Goal: The goal of the In Our Own Back Yard program is to cultivate connection to, comfort in, and informed appreciation of the outdoors among participants.

In SHAPE (Keene, NH)

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

Goal: The goal of In SHAPE is to utilize personal health mentors in order to improve physical health and quality of life, reduce the risk of preventable diseases, and enhance the life expectancy of individuals with severe mental illnesses.

Incorporating HIV Services into Tuberculosis Contact Investigations (New York)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide HIV testing and services to individuals involved in tuberculosis contact investigations.

Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening in Rural African American Women (Georgia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women, Older Adults, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease fatalism and increase participation in colorectal cancer screening among African American women.

Increasing Colorectal Screening Among Filipino Americans (Los Angeles)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this intervention was to increase colorectal cancer screening among an Asian American population.

Impact: A multicomponent intervention, including an educational session, can increase colorectal screening rates among Filipino Americans, even without the distribution of free fecal occult blood test kits.

Increasing the Use of Child Restraints in Motor Vehicles (Dallas, TX)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase child restraint use by Hispanic community members.

Independence Youth Court (Independence, MO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Rural

Goal: The primary goal of the Independence Youth Court is to reduce incidents of juvenile crime, divert offending youth from the Juvenile Justice System and to provide an alternative to the Jackson County Family court process and further contact with the police.

Indianapolis Restorative Justice Project (Indianapolis, IN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to divert young first-time offenders from court into a restorative justice process in which the offender and victim negotiate a satisfactory solution.

Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model HIV Intervention (Connecticut)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this intervention was to increase HIV preventative behavior among inner-city minority adolescents.

Impact: Students in the classroom-based intervention group had more sustained changes in HIV prevention behavior over time compared to those in the peer-based intervention groups.

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.