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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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Preventing Recurring Homelessness Among Mentally Ill Men Using a Critical Time Intervention (CTI) (New York City, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this Critical Time Intervention (CTI) is to prevent recurring homelessness in the mentally ill.

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Note: This practice has been Archived.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.

Providing Reliable Used Cars to Low-Income Families (New Hampshire)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Poverty, Families

Goal: The mission of Wheels to Work (W2) is to promote self-reliance and the development of a productive workforce in New Hampshire by providing low-income workers who lack reliable transportation with dependable cars at affordable terms.

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Note: This practice has been Archived.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.

Salud, Educacion, Prevencion y Autocuidado (SEPA) (Chicago, IL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Salud, Educacion, Prevencion y Autocuidado is to eliminate or reduce sex risk behaviors.

Seat Belt Enforcement Zones (Marion County, IN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Families

Goal: Indiana has a primary seat belt law which enables law enforcement officers to issue citations when they are observed. However, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that officers may not indiscriminately stop motorists to see if they are wearing their seat belts. To increase safety belt usage compliance, members of the Traffic Safety Partnership developed Seat Belt Enforcement Zones. The primary objectives of these enforcement zones are to: combine public awareness initiatives and enforcement efforts; utilize multi-agency personnel from participating law enforcement agencies; operate on a zero tolerance policy for violations; inform residents about current seat belt usage rates using metal signs posted at various county locations.

Spit Tobacco Intervention for High School Athletes (California)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent young athletes from using spit tobacco.

STEP (School Transitional Environmental Program) (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Teens

Goal: The goals of this program are to decrease student anonymity, to increase student accountability, and to enhance students' abilities to learn school rules and exceptions.

Sunwise Stampede: Promoting Sun Safety among Zoo Visitors (San Diego, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Children, Families

Goal: To encourage and increase safe sun behaviors in children and adults by limiting their exposure to ultraviolet rays through the use of sunscreen and hat wear.

Teach Baltimore (Baltimore, MD)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Teach Baltimore sought to prevent summer learning loss and promote academic achievement among early elementary school students.

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.