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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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Colorectal Cancer Screening Video Decision Aid (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults

Goal: The goal of this video decision aid is to inform patients of their colorectal cancer screening options and increase screening rates.

Condom Promotion (Phoenix, AZ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Women, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Condom Promotion program was to increase condom use.

Developing Community Service Career Ladder Programs to Support Welfare-to-Work (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Poverty, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: A core objective of the career ladder model is to ensure that low-income participants progress beyond the paraprofessional level. The goal is to aid welfare recipients to move from welfare to the paraprofessional level, then on to a career.

Experience Corps (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Experience Corps is to improve the cognitive, physical, and psychological function of retired senior citizens while simultaneously employing their free time to help narrow the achievement gap in urban, low-income elementary schools

First-grade Gardeners More Likely to Taste Vegetables (California)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of garden-based education programs for elementary-school students in order to develop and evaluate a comprehensive, garden-enhanced nutrition education program for elementary students.

Growing Healthy (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The main objective of Growing Healthy is to give students the tools to resist the social pressures to smoke, use alcohol or other drugs, and engage in other risky behavior.

Hawaii Child Asthma Research to Elevate Standards (Hawaii CARES) (Honolulu, HI)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of Hawaii CARES is to bring the way asthma is treated in the state up to compliance with national guidelines.

Healthy Employee Lifestyle Program (HELP) (Little Rock, AR)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Healthy Employee Lifestyle Program is to increase healthy behaviors such as eating fruits and vegetables and engaging in regular exercise.

Hypertension Initiative of South Carolina (South Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of the Hypertension Initiative is to improve blood pressure control rates to meet the Healthy People 2010 goal of 50% of all hypertensive patients controlling their blood pressure.

Kids Walk-to-School Day (Washington)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the KidsWalk-to-School program is to encourage physical activity as an integral part of a child’s daily routine, promote the development of safe walking and bicycling routes, and teach safe pedestrian practices to potentially reduce injury among children.

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.