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, Health / Prevention & Safety, Teens, Women, Urban
The Centering Pregnancy Plus Project aims to reduce risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and improve health outcomes for young pregnant women, aged 14-21.
Facilitated group discussions promoting condom use among young women can increase condom use among participants.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
The goal of this program is to reduce the negative impacts of divorce and separation on children.
Children of parents in the program said they felt caught in the middle less often compared to those of non-participants, and reported less stress in general. Parents who took the course also reported more awareness of their children's feelings, and had better communication with their children.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children
The Children’s Health Fund’s mission is to provide health care to the nation's most medically underserved children through the development and support of primary care medical programs. The fund also responds to public health crises and works to promote access to health care for all children.
Children's Health Fund provides medical, dental, and mental health care to approximately 83,000 low-income and homeless children and their family members each year through mobile medical clinics.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Teens
The goal of the CLEAR intervention is to empower HIV-positive youth to reduce risk behaviors and improve mental and physical health.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
WomanSpirit aims to foster grassroots women's leadership in the St. Louis area by claiming safe community space for women's mutual support and training, gaining access to government funds for women's economic development, and achieving positions in local, regional and national decision-making bodies.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Families
The goal of this program is to provide information about mood disorders to parents, equip parents with skills they need to communicate this information to their children, and open dialogue in families about the effects of parental depression.
Parents in the program scored better in their reports of child-related behavior and attitude changes of parental illness than parents who received a group-format presentation. Children in the program scored higher on measures of improved understanding of parental mood disorder than children who received a group-format lecture.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children
The goal of this program is to relieve symptoms of PTSD, depression, and general anxiety among children exposed to trauma.
Studies have found significant reductions in PTSD and depression symptoms for treatment children in CBITS when compared with a control group. Additionally, the program demonstrated effectiveness at reducing parent-reported psychosocial dysfunction among participating children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults
The goal of this program is to reduce disability in middle-aged and older people with schizophrenia.
At the end of treatment, CBSST participants had significantly greater cognitive insight scores, indicating more objectivity in reappraising psychotic symptoms relative to treatment as usual. At 1-year follow-up, participants in CBSST showed greater skill acquisition and significant improvements in social functioning relative to participants receiving treatment as usual.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens
The goal of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Depression is to treat depressive symptoms in adolescents.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Depression showed more rapid treatment response than both systematic behavior family therapy and non-directive support therapy. CBT also showed a greater rate of decline in self-reported depression over time.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Older Adults
The goal of this program is to use cognitive behavioral therapy to treat depression in older adults.
Research has shown that behavioral cognitive therapy helped patients reduce their depression symptoms, and maintained this improvement at 1-year follow-up more effectively than other types of therapy. At 6-month follow-up, clients who completed CBT were less likely to meet criteria for diagnoses of depression than clients who completed treatment as usual.