Home > Promising Practices

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.

Submit a Promising Practice

Search Filters Clear all
(2403 results)

Save a link to this search

Ranking
Featured
Primary Target Audience
Topics and Subtopics
Geographic Type
Search

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Note: This practice has been Archived.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.

Intimate Partner Violence Intervention

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Women

Goal: The goal of this clinic-based and counseling intervention is to reduce Intimate Partner Violence by encouraging behaviors that promote safety for women.

Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Y)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Children, Teens, Adults, Rural

Goal: The goal of MTO was to impact behavior and lifestyle choices by changing neighborhood environments.

Nurse-Directed Inpatient Asthma Intervention (St. Louis, MO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Nurse-Directed Inpatient Asthma Intervention is to improve health quality and reduce hospitalization readmissions due to asthma.

Coalition to Reduce HIV in Broward County (Broward County, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Coalition to Reduce HIV in Broward County is to eliminate disparities in HIV disease in Broward County.

Impact: Disparities in new diagnoses of HIV among Hispanic residents of Broward County were eliminated and cut in half among non-Hispanic residents.

Communities and Schools for Career Success (CS2) (Petaluma, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The Communities and Schools for Career Success (CS2) partnership's goal is to increase academic achievement, civic engagement, and career awareness by reshaping the relationships between schools and the community.

The Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: To reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease by reducing risk factors among children.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition (Birmingham, AL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce disparities in breast and cervical cancer screening and outcomes between African American and white women through the use of community advisors.

Low Literacy Intervention to Promote Discussion of Prostate Cancer (Atlanta, GA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Men

Goal: To educate men over the age of 45 about prostate cancer and to increase prostate cancer screening in order to reduce the incidence of prostate cancer.

Oral Health Care Education for Nursing Home Caregivers (UK)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this educational program was to improve the quality of oral health care nursing home residents received from their caregivers.

Impact: This study shows that oral health care education can improve caregivers' knowledge, attitudes and oral health care delivery for elderly clients.

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