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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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Pushback Against Drug Abuse (Marathon County, WI)

Local

Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens

Goal: The mission of Pushback Agasint Drug Abuse is to raise awareness of and eliminate the misuse of alcohol and other drugs in Marathon County.

Impact: Overall, communities funded by Drug Free Communities (DFC) have seen a reduction in alcohol and drug use among youth. Community coalitions like Marathon County’s are valuable tools for eliminating youth substance abuse.

Eat Well! El Paso (El Paso, TX)

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

Goal: The main purpose of the Eat Well! El Paso program is to improve the local food environment by expanding healthy food options for children and their families, as well as to increase awareness and knowledge of the positive effects that healthy food choices can have on our health and our community.

Impact: Many locally-owned restaurants in El Paso have worked with the Eat Well! El Paso program to improve the healthy meal choices on their menus, helping to create a healthier food environment for the community.

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.

Promotores de Salud (community health workers) (Georgia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Women, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Promotores de Salud is to improve the delivery of healthcare to under-served Latinos by using trained community members (Promotores) to bridge the gap between Latinos and healthcare providers.

Integration of TANF and Child Welfare Systems in El Paso (El Paso County, CO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Children, Families

Goal: The goals of this program are to support healthy child development, to provide economic assistance and social services to families, and to protect abused and neglected children.

Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH) (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) is to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce obesity in preschool, elementary, and middle school aged children.

Impact: CATCH is successful in improving participants' diet and physical activity, and the results lasted three years after participation.

Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline (Houston, TX)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve classroom management in order to provide a better learning environment that fosters academic success.

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.

Be Smart & Seal Them! (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health

Goal: The goal of the Be Smart & Seal Them! program is to provide dental sealants proven to prevent tooth decay to second grade students.

Expect Respect (Austin, TX)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Teens, Urban

Goal: Expect Respect is a program designed to promote healthy teen relationships and prevent dating abuse.

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.