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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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(2012 results)

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RealBenefits (Boston, MA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Families

Goal: The goals of RealBenefits are to allow users to 1) maximize benefits designed to promote self-sufficiency and stability for low-income families and their communities; 2) create capacity in public and private health and human service agencies that increases services offered to low-income families and maximizes revenues; and 3) promote change in public benefit application systems.

Reducing the Risk: Building Skills to Prevent Pregnancy, STD and HIV (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety

Goal: The goal of the Reducing the Risk curriculum is to increase knowledge about contraceptive use and protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

Take Charge of Your Health (Augusta, GA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to reduce medical costs, to prevent premature institutionalization, and to save taxpayers' dollars. Additionally, the program aims to prevent depression among the elderly, reduce daily living activity limitations caused by chronic diseases and lack of exercise, and increase the quality of life among the older adults.

Viva la Vida (California)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The purpose of the Viva la Vida project was to improve diabetes care for Latino Medicare beneficiaries and decrease the disparity in A1C testing between Whites and Latinos.

Impact: A1C testing rates increased for both White and Latino Medicare beneficiaries. The testing disparity between Whites and Latinos decreased during the study period.

Healthy Beginnings (Palm Beach, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Through prevention and early intervention efforts, the Healthy Beginnings Program provides opportunities for children and families to optimize birth, early childhood and family outcomes in a supportive community.

Maine Juvenile Drug Treatment Court (Maine)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the quality of juvenile justice in Maine through timely and effective substance abuse, social services, and juvenile justice interventions.

Philadelphia Youth Violence Reduction (Philadelphia, PA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce Philadelphia's homicide rate and put violent youthful offenders on the path toward a productive majority.

Project PACE (Huntington, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

Sembrando Salud (San Diego County, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: This program is designed to improve parent-child communication skills as a way of improving and maintaining healthy decision-making.

Internet-Based Case Management for Secondary Prevention of Heart Disease (Virginia)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide risk factor management training and services to individuals with cardiovascular disease.

Impact: Intervention participants had significantly fewer cardiovascular events than patients who received usual care (4.1% vs. 15.7%, p = 0.053). Reduced hospitalization and emergency room expenses resulted in a gross cost savings of $1,418 per patient.

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.