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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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Healthy U (Kansas City, MO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Healthy U is to work with several community groups to provide healthy snacks as well as education on nutrition and fitness to students and their families at University Academy.

Impact: The percentage of screened students who were overweight fell from 45.9% in the 2011-2012 school year to 36.9% in the 2011-2012 school year. Over 75% of participants in both Teen Eats and Family Dinners demonstrated a positive behavior change.

Healthy Workplaces Program (Montgomery)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Prevention & Safety, Adults

Goal: To make businesses healthier, happier and more productive through company-sponsored health and wellness programs.

Heart to Heart (Florence, SC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Heart to Heart program is to reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease.

Heartbeat Wales (Wales)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: The goal of Heartbeat Wales was to reduce behavioral risks for cardiovascular disease.

Help Educate to Eliminate Diabetes (HEED) (New York)

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

Goal: The goal of Project HEED is to lessen the incidence of diabetes in ethnic minority communities through peer-led educational interventions focusing on weight loss.

Helping Kids Grow (West Allis, WI)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the well-being of pre-school children.

High Point Walking for Health Project (Seattle, WA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To increase physical activity among residents of the in the High Point Seattle public housing area through improvement in the built environment.

HIV Performance Improvement Program (Suffolk County, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The program's objectives are to perform systematic and objective monitoring and evaluation of the quality and appropriateness of care and pursuit of opportunities to improve care and resolve problems as they are identified.

HIV Wisdom for Older Women (Kansas City, KS)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Women, Older Adults

Goal: HIV Wisdom for Older Women is dedicated to the prevention of HIV in older women and to life enrichment for those who are infected.

Home Again: A Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County (Portland and Multnomah County, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to end homelessness in the City of Portland and Multnomah County by 2015. As efforts to end homelessness continue, city and county officials will focus on nine actions. Programs throughout the county will address moving people into Housing First, ending the practice of discharging people into homelessness from jails and hospitals, improving outreach, emphasizing permanent solutions, increasing the housing supply, creating new partnerships, improving the rent assistance system, increasing economic opportunity for homeless people and implementing new data collection technology.

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.
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