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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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Transcendental Meditation Stress Reduction Intervention for Congestive Heart Failure (Philadelphia, PA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the intervention is to use meditation to improve health and reduce the risk of heart failure among older African Americans with congestive heart failure.

Transforming Neighborhoods Together (TNT) (Knoxville, TN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Urban

Goal: TNT's goals are to create an active group of neighborhood leaders, committed to developing a long-term vision for their neighborhoods; to establish a process for resident input and consensus; to develop a comprehensive body of knowledge about the neighborhoods; and to develop written action plans for achieving the vision, which may include goals for investment in and development of the neighborhoods.

Using Ten Techniques to Sustain a Successful Mentoring Relationship (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: To promote and maintain successful mentoring relationships between youth and adults.

Yerba Buena Gardens Neighborhood Revitalization (San Francisco)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate, Urban

Goal: The YBG neighborhood was developed to (1) reclaim a severely blighted sector of the City, (2) provide public amenities, (3) support San Francisco's hospitality industry, and (4) increase economic vitality and employment.

Advancing Diabetes Self Management: Gateway Community Health Center (Laredo, TX)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Advancing Diabetes Self Management program at the Gateway Community Health Center was to help patients with diabetes control their blood sugar levels over an extended period of time.

Advancing Diabetes Self Management: Holyoke Health Center, Inc. (Holyoke, MA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Advancing Diabetes Self Management project at the Holyoke Health Center was to improve health outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes.

Advancing Diabetes Self Management: St. Peter Family Medicine Residency Program (Olympia, WA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Advancing Diabetes Self Management at the St. Peter Family Medicine Residency Program was to support healthy self management among people with chronic conditions.

Choose Respect (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Choose Respect is to encourage positive action on the part of the adolescent so that he/she is able to form healthy, respectful relationships.

Condom Availability in New York Public Schools (New York City)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To increase condom use among sexually active high school students.

Disability Awareness Training (San Diego, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment

Goal: The goal of this program was to teach staff the skills necessary to encourage an optimum learning environment for disabled students.

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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