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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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Flex Your Power Case Study: Arden Realty and next>edge (Los Angeles, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of next>edge is to maximize energy efficiency for commercial facilities.

Food Stamps and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) at Arizona Farmer's Markets (Arizona)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance

Goal: To help low-income people increase their access to healthy foods while building community and economic assets through local food production and distribution.

Bethlehem Police Family Group Conferencing Project (Bethlehem, PA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to divert young first-time offenders from court and into conferences where they can negotiate solutions with their families and their victims.

Kentucky Adolescent Tobacco Prevention Project (Lexington, KY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.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 tobacco use among middle school students who live in tobacco-producing areas.

Strengthening the Bonds of Chicano Youth and Families (Eloy, AZ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Families, Rural

Goal: The goal of this project was to prevent substance abuse among high-risk youth in Arizona.

Impact: Participants in the experimental group experienced significant differences in family relations, significant decrease in alcohol and other drugs, and also a significant decrease of alcohol use by family members. Participants of the control group did not experience similar impacts.

Trash to Treasures (Longmont, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children

Goal: The premise of Trash to Treasures is items that would normally be thrown away or possibly recycled can be used for museum activities.

Be Active Kids® (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the Be Active Kids program is to promote healthy lifestyles and good healthy by giving young children the tools they need to develop positive physical activity and nutrition habits.

Campesinos Diabetes Management Program (Yuma County, AZ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Campesinos Diabetes Management Program was build social support as a means to improve self-management of diabetes.

Charlotte REACH 2010 (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: To improve three health behaviors that are risk factors for diabetes and heart disease (fruit & vegetable consumption, physical activity, and cigarette smoking) in an African American community.

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.