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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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CDC Communities Putting Prevention to Work: King County, WA (King County, WA)

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.

Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of the CDSMP is to improve personal management of chronic disease.

Coded Text Messages for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Results (Clay, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to reduce the spread of STDs/STIs in high risk populations under 25 years old by decreasing the length of time from diagnosis to treatment.

Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol

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

Goal: The goal of CMCA is to change policies and practices of major community institutions to reduce underage access to alcohol.

Impact: CMCA intervention significantly and favorably affected drinking behavior of 18- to 20-year olds and also significantly and favorably affected the practices of establishments serving alcohol. Alcohol merchants increased age-identification checking and reduced their sales to minors. Older teenagers (18 to 20 years old) reduced their provision of alcohol to other teens and were less likely to try to buy alcohol or drink in a bar. Arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol declined significantly among 18- to 20-year-olds.

Community Voice: Palm Beach (Palm Beach)

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

Goal: Community Voice is a grassroots program that utilizes community residents to provide factual perinatal information throughout the community in an effort to reduce African American infant mortality.

Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Education Standards (CARES) (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Adults

Goal: The program's mission is to improve the quality of early learning programs by focusing on increasing the quality, effectiveness, and retention of early educators.

Connect (New York, NY)

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

Goal: The goal of Connect is to increase relationship communication and safer sex practices among couples.

Detroit's Asthma Education Project (Detroit, MI)

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

Goal: The objectives of the program were to educate students, parents, and school staff about asthma management and to control exposure to factors that trigger asthma attacks.

Ellis Street Apartments (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To provide an independent living situation with support services for at-risk youths aged 18 to 24.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of La Mesa (La Mesa, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of this project was to reduce energy consumption in La Mesa, California.

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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