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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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Families Facing the Future (Seattle, WA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent parents who are addicted to drugs from relapsing, and to prevent substance abuse among their children.

Impact: Although studies evaluating the effectiveness of this program on the behaviors of drug-using parents and their children showed some positive findings, the overall evidence suggested no effects.

Farm to Hospital (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The goals of Farm to Hospital programs are to create partnerships between local farmers and hospitals in order to bring fresh, healthy food to medical facilities and to create new markets for local farmers.

Fathers at Work Initiative (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: The initiative's goal was to help young noncustodial fathers increase their employment and earnings, become more involved in their children's lives, and increase their financial support of their children.

Girls Inc. Friendly PEERsuasion

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to help girls in middle school (ages 11-14) acquire knowledge, skills, and support systems to avoid substance abuse.

Impact: In 2016, independent evaluation of PEERsuasion failed to find evidence that Friendly PEERsuasion was effective in delaying or reducing girls’ use of ATOD or changing girls’ attitudes toward ATOD use and their associations with peers who use substances.

Green Harvest Program (Pittsburgh, PA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide nutritious food to low-income people and to promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Healthy Hoops (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Healthy Hoops uses a holistic approach to not only enhance disease management and health outcomes, but also improve quality of life, helping children live healthy and happier lives.

Improved Childhood Blood Lead Screening in Rhode Island (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The main objective of this program is to enhance blood lead screening rates of children who are enrolled in all major managed care plans in Rhode Island.

Matching Volunteer Mentors with Adults Working towards Self-Sufficiency (Amarillo, TX)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Poverty, Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to help people living in poverty to become self-sufficient by working toward short and long term goals of self-improvement.

Michigan Diabetes Outreach Network (MDON) (Michigan)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes

Goal: The goal of the network is to improve care and health outcomes for patients with diabetes.

Native American Prevention Project Against AIDS and Substance Abuse

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The primary goals of this project are to prevent HIV/AIDS and substance abuse among Native Americans.

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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