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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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Mailed Psychoeducational Intervention for Colorectal Cancer Screening (England)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among older adults.

Impact: Participants in the intervention group had significantly higher colorectal cancer screening attendance, as well as having more positive attitudes about screening and placing a higher priority on screening.

Parent Connext: Parent Coaching in Pediatric Practices (Cincinnati)

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

Goal: The goal of Parent Connext is to support parents in reducing and/or preventing toxic stress in the family and help children develop critical life skills and coping skills. Recent studies have found that up to 50% of health outcomes are attributable to social and economic factors and that lifetime costs associated with child maltreatment are comparable to other costly healthcare conditions such as stroke or type 2 diabetes. Moreover, 4 in 5 physicians report lacking confidence in their ability to meet patients’ social needs, which can impede their ability to provide high quality medical care. As a result, interventions that target parents’ social needs may have important implications for reducing healthcare costs and have the added benefit of enabling physicians to provide high-quality care to their patients.

The Character Effect: A Universal Social-Emotional Learning Program for Elementary School Students (Greater Cincinnati Area (SW OH, Northern KY))

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of The Character Effect is to foster the development of students’ social-emotional skills, improving their behavior and readiness to learn in the classroom.

Project Search (Cincinnati)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Disabilities, Teens, Adults

Goal: Project Search aims to engage an underutilized workforce of individuals with significant disabilities while addressing employer human resource needs that ultimately benefits individuals, organizations, and the community.

Project SEARCH (Cincinnati, OH)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase employment opportunities for qualified persons with disabilities and to advocate on behalf of their employment to other organizations in their communities.

The Strive Partnership (Cincinnati, OH)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The Strive Partnership is focused on the success of children: every child, every step, from cradle to career.

Work Resource Center High School/High Tech Program (Cincinnati, OH)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Teens

Goal: The objective of this program is for students to complete high school and be prepared to enter postsecondary education or employment.

The Ohio Department of Health School-Based Dental Sealant Program (Ohio)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the Ohio Department of Health School-Based Dental Sealant Program is to provide grants to agencies that aim to conduct dental sealant programs in schools with large proportions of low-income students.

Change the Future WV (West Virginia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Change The Future WV emphasizes improving access to healthy food options and safe environments for physical activity to create healthier communities in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Impact: Change The Future WV has launched multiple community and school-based interventions to improve dietary behaviors and physical fitness in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Enhanced Opening Doors (California, Louisiana, New York, Ohio)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve outcomes among Community College students who are on academic probation.

Impact: Enhanced Opening Doors helps low-income students earn college credentials as the pathway to better jobs and further education.

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