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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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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.

Project START (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of Project START is to reduce sexual risk behavior of young men re-entering the community after incarceration.

Project SUCCESS (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of Project SUCCESS is to prevent and reduce substance abuse in high-risk middle-school and high-school aged adolescents.

Project SUCCESS - Clay Behavioral Health Center (Middleburg, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens

Goal: The goal of Project SUCCESS is to prevent and reduce substance abuse in high-risk middle-school and high-school aged adolescents.

ProMedica Come to the Table Initiative

Filed under Good Idea, Health

Goal: As a non-profit, mission-based health system committed to community health needs ProMedica works together with community agencies, faith organizations, businesses, and elected leaders to end hunger, sharing successful strategies employed throughout their region.

Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers (Birmingham, AL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Promoting Heart Health in Women Municipal Workers program is to improve women’s knowledge of and perceived susceptibility to heart disease.

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.

Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors (PHENOM)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment

Goal: To provide a freely-available source of public health expertise in which seasoned professionals can share their wealth of professional expertise with those interested in learning about Public Health and potential career options.

Publication: Best Practices for Chiropractic (Lexington, SC)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alternative Medicine

Goal: The publication will address the disparity of best practices information for certain types of spinal and neuromusculoskeletal conditions.

Put Illinois To Work (Illinois)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate, Adults

Goal: The program’s goal is to support disadvantaged workers and struggling businesses through the economic recovery process.

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.