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.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Nutrition & Healthy Eating, Rural
Goal: CVAN is the Kansas conduit for tons of healthy produce from the Catholic Charities Mary Martha Organization--the steward of excess highly perishable high quality foods from a huge Walmart Distribution Center in Oklahoma. As food supplies allow, CVAN distributes to the 100 square mile school district and to share with a networked family of pantries and volunteer organizations in five Kansas counties and South Coffeyville, OK. As needed, CVAN has recruited distribution volunteers in covering communities within this economically depressed region. The network family was built upon the CVAN’s supply of fresh produce, but is now blessing this area with distribution of CARES foods during the COVID crisis. Its volunteers are food warriors--winning in the fight against rural hunger.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of the Caring School Community program is to build classroom and school communities in order to support learning, academic success, positive relationships and character formation.
Impact: After 3 years, CSC students, relative to their comparison school counterparts, showed a greater sense of the school as a caring community, more fondness for school, stronger academic motivation, more frequent reading of books outside of school, a higher sense of efficacy, stronger commitment to democratic values, better conflict-resolution skills, more concern for others, more frequent altruistic behavior, and less use of alcohol.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Adults, Urban
Goal: The goal of Casual Carpool is to match commuters in order to reduce traffic congestion and to save money for both drivers and passengers by avoiding public transit fees and bridge tolls.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens
Goal: The King County Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative goals are to reduce obesity and tobacco use.
Impact: Communities Putting Prevention to Work in King County is associated with reducing obesity prevalence among students in participating school districts and has made substantial progress towards decreasing tobacco use.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Adolescent Health: Person-to-Person Interventions to Improve Caregivers' Parenting Skills (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Families
Goal: To modify adolescents' risk and protective behaviors by improving their caregivers' parenting skills based on sufficient evidence of effectiveness in reducing adolescent risk behaviors.
Impact: Although the estimated effects varied substantially and were not statistically significant, risk behaviors decreased and youth participants reported increased refusal skills and self efficacy for avoiding risky behaviors in the future.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults
Impact: There is strong evidence that the use of assessments of health risks with feedback, combined with health education programs, improves outcomes regarding tobacco use, dietary fat intake, blood pressure, cholesterol, and number of days lost due to illness or disability.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Asthma Control: Home-Based Multi-Trigger, Multicomponent Environmental Interventions (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Teens
Goal: To improve overall quality of life and productivity for children and adolescents that suffer from asthma.
Impact: Home-based multi-trigger, multi-component interventions with a combination of minor or moderate environmental remediation with an education component provide good value based on improvement in symptoms free days.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens
Impact: Enhanced school-based physical education is recommended to increase physical activity based on strong evidence of effectiveness in increasing the amount of time students spend in moderate- or vigorous- intensity physical activity during PE classes. Enhanced school=based PE resulted in 10 percentage points more PE class time engaged in moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity as compared to standard PE classes.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities