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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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Prenatal Oral Hygiene (Dental Hygiene Kits) (Clinton County, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the individual oral hygiene practices of the prenatal women in order to reduce the number of low birth weight, pre-term infants born to this population.

Prenatal Plus Program (Lake Worth, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Urban

Goal: The overall goal of the Prenatal Plus Program, combined with the Partners for a Healthy Baby curriculum, is to improve birth outcomes, decrease rates of child abuse and neglect, and strengthen families.

Impact: Reduced low birth weight rate through risk reduction during pregnancy.

Preventive Health Program/ Hepatitis C Testing (Erie County, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The intent of the practice is to decrease mortality and morbidity relative to Hepatitis A, B or C infection rate in Western New York.

Preventive Nutrition Cardiovascular Disease Program (Dade County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goals of this project are:
- to increase knowledge of nutrition among Hispanic elders who are at risk for cardiovascular disease and obesity;
- to foster behavior change through group sessions and interactive activities; and
- to test whether the American Heart Association guidelines and materials can be utilized in a dietitian led model targeted to Hispanic elders.

Project Angel Heart (Colorado)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: Project Angel Heart improves health and well-being for people with life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals and promoting the power of food as medicine.

Impact: Survey data from Project Angel Heart clients show that this program has a positive impact on clients. Of clients surveyed in 2018: 82% report less stress, 69% report improved adherence to health care plans, 72% report improved quality of life, and 72% report improved ability to afford basic needs.

Project BRAVE (New Orleans)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens

Goal: To reduce violence among adolescents and young adults living in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty and violence in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Project Health Education Awareness Research Team (HEART) (El Paso, TX)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The objective of Project HEART (Health Education Awareness Research Team) was to promote behavior changes to decrease cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a high-risk Hispanic border population.

Project Homeless Connect (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban

Goal: The mission of Project Homeless Connect (PHC) is to connect homeless San Franciscans with the care they need to move forward. The goals of Project Homeless Connect are to:

- Improve access to services for homeless San Franciscans.
- Improve the system of care through collaboration and the sharing of best practices among San Francisco’s homeless service provider community.
- Engage and increase the involvement of the business, nonprofit community, and individual volunteers to work together to provide access to services for homeless San Franciscans.
- To leverage the private sector, corporations, and foundations to expand service capacity and funds.

Project Joy (Baltimore, MD)

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

Goal: The goal of Project Joy is to improve cardiovascular lifestyle risk factors among African American women.

Project Live Active in Yancey (PLAY) (Yancey)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Families

Goal: The mission of Project Live Active in Yancey is to enhance the built environment in the community in order to prevent obesity and encourage community members to be physically active.

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.