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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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Obesity: Multicomponent Interventions to Increase Availability of Healthier Foods and Beverages in Schools

CDC

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Weight Status

Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends multicomponent interventions to increase availability of healthier foods and beverages in schools. This finding is based on evidence that they reduce or maintain the rate of obesity or overweight.

Oral Health Equity Project (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Oral Health, Older Adults

Goal: The mission of the Oral Health Equity Project (OHEP) is to increase access to preventative services and dental care for economically disadvantaged elders living in Boston's public housing. The specific goal of the three-year project is to provide oral health screening to 1000 low-income elders.

Pregnancy Health: Exercise Programs to Prevent Gestational Hypertension

CDC

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Families

Goal: The goal of exercise programs for pregnant women is to improve health and prevent gestational hypertension.

Impact: Exercise programs reduce the development of high blood pressure in pregnancy.

Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers (Birmingham, AL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers program is to improve women’s knowledge of and perceived susceptibility to heart disease.

Refugee Health Assessment Program (Miami Dade County, FL)

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

Goal: The mission of the RHAP is to protect the health of the general population and to improve the health status of refugees so they may achieve self-sufficiency.

Rhode Island’s Health Equity Zones: Addressing Local Problems with Local Solutions

Filed under Good Idea, Health

Goal: The goal of the program was to recognize and address the diversity of local health disparities by marshaling local community involvement in the place-based Health Equity Zones.

Impact: The framework established through the Health Equity Zones allows for the continued collaboration between governmental public health entities and stakeholders in the community to address health disparities.

San Francisco Unified School District Healthy Food Policy (San Francisco)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: SFUSD aimed to provide students with healthy and appealing food choices and to diminish the dependence of schools and school-related organizations on selling unhealthy foods.

Supermarket Savvy: Learn to shop healthy at the supermarket

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: To educate consumers how to shop for health and to make healthy grocery shopping easy and enjoyable. To enable health professionals to educate their patients on shopping for health.

The Black Infant Health Program (Antelope Valley, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Black Infant Health Program aims to reduce African-American infant mortality through the Social Support and Empowerment model - a faith-based program which seeks to:

- Educate
- Ensure access to care for at-risk pregnant and parenting women and their infants.

The Effect of Guided Care Teams on the Use of Health Services

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this study was to determine the effect of interdisciplinary primary care teams on health care utilization by patients with multiple chronic conditions.

Impact: This study concluded that guided care models can significantly impact home health care episodes.

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.