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 / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of Adolescents Living Safely is to prevent HIV infection and AIDS among runaway adolescents.
Impact: Adolescents Living Safely changes youth sexual behavior to reduce transmission of HIV among runaways.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of the Advancing Diabetes Self Management program at the Community Health Center was to improve the health outcomes of people with type 2 diabetes.
Impact: The diabetes self-management intervention showed patient improvements in glycemic control, blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol. The team was able to develop and adapt the program to meet the unique needs of the population to create an effective intervention.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce alcohol misuse among adolescents.
Impact: Middle school students who receive the curriculum have increased knowledge about alcohol misuse when compared to a control group. Students who received programming in the 10th grade had significantly increased alcohol misuse prevention knowledge, decreased alcohol misuse, and increased refusal skills. During their first year of driving, students who received the curriculum were involved in fewer serious traffic or drug offenses than students in the control group.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Other Conditions, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program is to increase joint flexibility, range of motion, and muscle strength among individuals with arthritis.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: A.S.P.I.R.E aims to reduce teen tobacco use by helping current smokers to quit and preventing non-smokers from beginning to smoke.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: ASSIST aims to develop a diverse group consisting of young people that will then influence their peers to defy the idea of smoking thus reducing the number of adolescent smokers and reducing its health effects.
Impact: A peer-led intervention reduced smoking among adolescents at a modest cost: the ASSIST program cost of £32 ($42 USD) (95% CI = £29.70–£33.80) per student. The incremental cost per student not smoking at 2 years was £1,500 ($1984 USD) (95% CI = £669–£9,947).
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens
Goal: The goal of Assisting in Rehabilitating Kids (ARK) is to increase abstinence and safer sex behaviors among substance-dependent adolescents.
Impact: The ARK program successfully increased sexual abstinence among those who received all components: health information, behavior skills training, and risk-sensitization manipulation, with the inclusion of the latter being more resistant to decay over time.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program was to provide a multi-layered asthma management program for parents, children, and staff of early childhood centers.
Impact: The ABC program demonstrates that a multi-layered approach can improve asthma outcomes among preschoolers with a combination of parent and provider education having the greatest impact.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens
Goal: The mission of the ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise & Nutrition Alternatives) program is to promote healthy sports nutrition and discourage the use of body-enhancing substances among middle and high school female athletes.
Impact: Participation in the ATHENA program results in significant reductions in the use of performance-enhancing substances, recreational drugs, diet pills, tobacco, and alcohol among female teen athletes. Healthier eating and other health behaviors, and body image perceptions were also improved.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Baltimore Needle Exchange Program is to reduce HIV, hepatitis, and other infections by reducing the use of unclean needles and to help individuals overcome substance abuse by connecting them to harm reduction services and drug treatment programs. The experimental case manager intervention program at the Baltimore NEP looked to increase the percentage of intravenous drug users who enrolled in city sponsored substance abuse programs following referral at the Baltimore NEP sites.
Impact: The intervention program through Baltimore NEP was effective in increasing entry of intravenous drug users into drug drug treatment programs and highlights the need for more accessible treatment programs and harm-reduction services, such as mobile treatment facilities.