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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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The Tri-State Stroke Network

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of the Network is to increase public awareness about the signs and symptoms of stroke.

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Note: This practice has been Archived.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.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Glenborough Realty Trust (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Glenborough's energy management program is to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs at Glenborough properties nationwide.

Native American Prevention Project Against AIDS and Substance Abuse

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The primary goals of this project are to prevent HIV/AIDS and substance abuse among Native Americans.

Signs to Promote Stair Use (El Paso, TX )

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Women, Men, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To increase physical activity among Hispanic populations by promoting the use of stairways.

Sistering, Informing, Healing, Living, and Empowering (Birmingham, AL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens, Women

Goal: The SiHLE intervention aims to reduce sexual risk behaviors among sexually experienced African American adolescents.

STEP (School Transitional Environmental Program) (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Teens

Goal: The goals of this program are to decrease student anonymity, to increase student accountability, and to enhance students' abilities to learn school rules and exceptions.

AIDS Prevention for Adolescents in Schools (New York City, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of AIDS Prevention for Adolescents in Schools was to use a teacher-delivered curriculum to improve knowledge and beliefs about AIDS, and develop self-efficacy related to AIDS-preventive actions among students.

Arizona Marriage and Communication Skills Commission (Arizona)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to help coordinate the state's marriage and family strengthening efforts.

Choices (Seattle-King County, WA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Choices intervention is to provide heterosexually active women with skills to decrease risky sexual behaviors and prevent STD transmission.

Impact: Significantly reduced risky sexual behaviors from baseline levels and maintained this reduction at twelve months post-intervention. Choices participants were significantly likely to acquire a new STD.

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.