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, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of the Caring School Community program is to build classroom and school communities in order to support learning, academic success, positive relationships and character formation.
Impact: After 3 years, CSC students, relative to their comparison school counterparts, showed a greater sense of the school as a caring community, more fondness for school, stronger academic motivation, more frequent reading of books outside of school, a higher sense of efficacy, stronger commitment to democratic values, better conflict-resolution skills, more concern for others, more frequent altruistic behavior, and less use of alcohol.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of this project is to improve colorectal cancer screening awareness among low-income women traditionally underserved by cancer control efforts.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: The Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program's goal is to provide comprehensive youth development services and reduce teen pregnancy among economically disadvantaged teenagers.
Impact: Pregnancy prevention programs can work successfully among females when started early in adolescence and when male counterparts are also educated appropriately on condom-use and delayed sexual actively onset.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Adolescent Health: Person-to-Person Interventions to Improve Caregivers' Parenting Skills (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Families
Goal: To modify adolescents' risk and protective behaviors by improving their caregivers' parenting skills based on sufficient evidence of effectiveness in reducing adolescent risk behaviors.
Impact: Although the estimated effects varied substantially and were not statistically significant, risk behaviors decreased and youth participants reported increased refusal skills and self efficacy for avoiding risky behaviors in the future.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults
Impact: There is strong evidence that the use of assessments of health risks with feedback, combined with health education programs, improves outcomes regarding tobacco use, dietary fat intake, blood pressure, cholesterol, and number of days lost due to illness or disability.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Breast Cancer Prevention & Control, Provider-Oriented Screening Interventions: Provider Reminder & Recall Systems (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults
Goal: The goal of incorporating multicomponent interventions for cancer screenings is to increase breast cancer screenings in communities.
Impact: Multicomponent interventions that include strategies that reduce and address structural barriers increase cancer screening rates by the largest margins.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Cervical Cancer Prevention & Control, Provider-Oriented Screening Interventions: Provider Reminder & Recall Systems (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer
Goal: The goal of incorporating multicomponent interventions for cancer screenings is to increase cervical cancer screenings and pap smears in communities.
Impact: Multicomponent interventions that include strategies that reduce and address structural barriers increase cervical cancer screening rates by the largest margins and evidence shows that these interventions are also cost-effective.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Colorectal Cancer Prevention & Control, Provider-Oriented Screening Interventions: Provider Reminder & Recall Systems (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer
Goal: The goal of incorporating multicomponent interventions for cancer screenings is to increase colorectal cancer screenings, colonoscopies, and FOTB in communities.
Impact: Multicomponent interventions that include strategies that reduce and address structural barriers increase colorectal cancer screening rates by the largest margins and evidence shows that these interventions are also cost-effective.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Decreasing Tobacco Use Among Workers: Incentives & Competitions to Increase Smoking Cessation (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults
Impact: Community mobilization integrated with additional interventions (i.e. stronger local laws for retailers) decrease youth tobacco use and access to these products.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Decreasing Tobacco Use Among Workers: Smoke-Free Policies to Reduce Tobacco Use (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends smoke-free policies to reduce secondhand smoke exposure and tobacco use on the basis of strong evidence of effectiveness. Evidence is considered strong based on results from studies that showed effectiveness of smoke‑free policies in:
Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke
Reducing the prevalence of tobacco use
Increasing the number of tobacco users who quit
Reducing the initiation of tobacco use among young people
Reducing tobacco-related morbidity and mortality, including acute cardiovascular events
Economic evidence indicates that smoke-free policies can reduce healthcare costs substantially. In addition, the evidence shows smoke-free policies do not have an adverse economic impact on businesses, including bars and restaurants.