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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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POSSE (Prevent Ongoing Spread of STDs Everywhere) (Forsyth County, NC)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the POSSE program is to increase STD awareness, prevention skills, and testing among racial and ethnic minorities.

Preventing Marijuana Use through Establishing Conservative Norms in Adolescents (Los Angeles and Orange, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Urban

Goal: To prevent use of marijuana altogether in adolescents by establishing conservative norms.

Project Healthy Bones (New Jersey)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Project Healthy Bones is to educate older individuals about osteoporosis and improve strength, balance, and flexibility through strength training exercises.

Project PACE (Huntington, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

Project Sixteen (Oregon)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Families, Rural

Goal: The goal of Project SixTeen is to reduce the use of adolescent tobacco use by utilizing a comprehensive community intervention approach.

Promotion of Social Competence

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: To increase prosocial behavior among elementary school aged children.

Public Health Communications Response to the Influenza Vaccine Shortage (Pinellas County, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Older Adults, Families

Goal: The goal was to provide flu vaccine to those most at risk while minimizing public alarm and gaining acceptance by employees that the traditionally free flu vaccine would not be available.

Seven Principles Project - San Francisco (San Francisco)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goals of the SevenPrinciples Project, funded by the CDC's REACH 2010 Initiative, are to: eliminate disparities in infant mortality rates; improve African American infant survival; and improve the health of families and communities with infants through developing community capacity.

Steps Program in Austin (Austin, TX)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults

Goal: CDC's Steps Program funds states, cities, and tribal groups to implement community-based chronic disease prevention programs to reduce the burden of obesity, diabetes, and asthma by addressing three related risk factors: physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use.

Stopping Teenage Addiction to Tobacco (Illinois)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Governance, Teens

Goal: The aim of the program is to persuade merchants to obey the law by refusing to sell tobacco to minors.

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.