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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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(2006 results)

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PACE MySteps: A Web-based Behavior Change Program for Adolescent Weight Loss

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens

Goal: To facilitate behavior change among adolescents such that the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors yields weight loss and sustained weight control.

Reducing the Risk- Rural schools (Arkansas)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of the program was to reduce the risk for pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease by one or more of the following behaviors: a delay in initiating sexual intercourse; a reduction in the number of sexual partners and acts of intercourse; or an increase in contraception use.

Videophone Monitoring of SARS Patients in Voluntary Home Isolation (Nassau County, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The goal of this program is to protect the public from the spread of SARS by using the least restrictive means possible. Program objectives are1) to provide a mechanism for effectively monitoring patients on voluntary home isolation and quarantine, 2) to enable visual verification of patient compliance and condition, and 3) to maximize limited resources by being cost-effective and time-efficient.

Arthritis Self-Help Course (Pasco County, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Other Conditions, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this course is to help participants with arthritis manage their pain so that they can exercise more, take less arthritis medication, and move with ease.

Bronx Museum Partnership (New York City)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Urban

Goal: To integrate the arts into the teaching curriculum of P.S. 73 and supplement children's learning with valuable cultural experiences.

Community Partnership for Protecting Children (Jacksonville, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to change the child protection field by demonstrating a new approach to safeguarding children and supporting families. Based on the premise that many people, agencies, and organizations in a community can contribute to children's safety, the initiative addresses child abuse and neglect by raising neighborhood awareness of child safety issues, empowering neighborhood residents to become more involved with families at risk of abusing or neglecting their children, strengthening locally based organizations and helping them form networks concerned with child safety, and fostering policy, practice, and organizational changes within public sector child protective services agencies. This approach is known as community child protection.

Enrolling and Supporting Organizations Who Encourage Donation of Organs, Marrow, Tissue, or Blood (Buncombe County, NC)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement

Goal: In May, 2002, the Buncombe County Medical Society committed to enrolling 100 organizations into the Workplace Partnership initiative. BCMS declared itself "community headquarters" for recruiting Buncombe County businesses and organizations in the Workplace Partnership for Life program, and implemented a plan to support these organizations in their efforts to urge donation.

Farm to Hospital (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The goals of Farm to Hospital programs are to create partnerships between local farmers and hospitals in order to bring fresh, healthy food to medical facilities and to create new markets for local farmers.

Focus on the Future (Kentucky)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Focus on the Future is to reduce STD reinfections among young African American heterosexual males through correct and consistent condom use.

Partners Through Food: Organizing to Increase Access to Healthy Food (Upper Falls, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Families

Goal: To increase the access and availability of nutritious food to the residents of Upper Falls, Rochester, New York.

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.
Michigan Health Improvement Alliance