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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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Medication Management Improvement System (MMIS) (Burbank, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce medication-related problems among senior home health patients.

Memphis Fast Forward (Shelby County, TN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate

Goal: Memphis Fast Forward is the shared vision and unprecedented action plan to create good jobs, a better-educated workforce, a safer community, a healthier citizenry and efficient government in Memphis and Shelby County.

Impact: Major violent and property crime were reduced by 22.8% and 25.5%. The pool of high-potential teacher candidates increased from 21 to 1,800 in one year. More than 15,000 jobs were created. New capital investment of $4.2 billion was generated. Local governments saved more than $75 million.

Men Unlearning Violence (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Men, Urban

Goal: Men Unlearning Violence helps men transform their relationships with people and with themselves by learning to respond instead of react, and replacing control with intimacy.

Menominee Nation’s Culturally Informed Settings Across Systems

Filed under Good Idea, Health

Impact: Among other improvements, the 4-year graduation rate for Menominee Indian High School increased from less than 60% in 2008 to 92% for the 2015-16 school year.

Migrant Health Promotion (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The mission of Migrant Health Promotion is to strengthen the capacity of farmworker and migrant families to live healthy lives within healthy communities.

Million Hearts (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: Million Hearts seeks to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes in the next five years (by 2017) by coordinating cardiovascular prevention implementations in its private-public partnerships.

Milwaukee Extreme Heat Plan (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mortality Data, Children, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce heat-related morbidity and mortality in Milwaukee.

Minority Outreach Recreation Program (San Francisco Bay Area)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Disabilities, Children, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of BORP’s Minority Outreach Program is to make recreational activities more accessible to disabled minority or immigrant individuals.

Missouri Information for Community Assessment (MICA) (Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer

Goal: The goal of this project is to educate citizens, health professionals, researchers, and policy makers about cancer in Missouri. Complete, timely, and high-quality data are essential for conducting research and responding to public concerns about cancer incidence in their communities.

Motivating Drivers to Correctly Adjust Head Restraints (British Columbia, Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to raise awareness of the proper position of car head rests, and to encourage drivers to adjust their head rest to the appropriate height.

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.