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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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Physical Activity and Teenage Health (PATH) Program (New York, NY)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of the PATH Program is to improve knowledge of cardiovascular health and reduce risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.

Pitless or Closed-loop Drilling (Texas)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goals and benefits of piltess drilling include:

-elimination of unsightly and hazardous pits
-a decrease in the need for cuts in sensitive and hilly areas
-a reduction in total surface disturbance associated with a well pad
-elimination of the risk of waterfowl and wildlife mortality related to pits
-elimination of the risk of damaging underground pipelines and utilities
-virtual elimination of drilling waste
-reduction of water consumption by as much as 80%
-elimination of soil segregation, which reduces wind erosion problems
-reduction of truck traffic associated with transporting drilling wastes by as much as 75%

plaNYC (New York)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of plaNCY is to ensure a higher quality of life for New Yorkers, and reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.

Pool Cool (MA, HI)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Children, Families

Goal: The main objective of Pool Cool is to increase awareness, motivation, and sun protection practices among children ages 5-10 who take swimming lessons.

Impact: The Pool Cool program had significant positive effects on children's use of sunscreen and overall sun-protection habits at swimming pools.

Positive Action

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve academic success, behavior, and character development.

Impact: Multiple studies have consistently found PA effective for improving achievement scores, attendance, and self-concept and for reducing drug use, violence, and other problem behaviors. Results were often better in more disadvantaged schools.

Positive Family Support Program (PFS) (Eugene, OR)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The long-term goals of the program are to arrest the development of teen antisocial behaviors and drug experimentation. Intermediate goals are to improve parents' family management and communication skills.

Impact: Parents had improved feelings toward their children and were less likely to react negatively to their children's behavior and less likely to take a "lax" approach to their children after participating in the program. They also showed improvements in the skill areas of tracking and reinforcing behavior, setting expectations and defining problems, and remaining calm in stressful situations. Antisocial behaviors in their children decreased significantly, measures of child adjustment showed improvement, and total problem behavior decreased. Furthermore, the PFS intervention resulted in significantly less use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.

Pounds Off With Empowerment (POWER) (South Carolina)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of POWER is to promote weight loss and glycemic control among individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes living in rural communities.

Pregnancy Health: Exercise Programs to Prevent Gestational Hypertension

CDC

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health

Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends exercise programs for pregnant women to reduce the development of gestational hypertension.

Preventive Nutrition Cardiovascular Disease Program (Dade County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goals of this project are:
- to increase knowledge of nutrition among Hispanic elders who are at risk for cardiovascular disease and obesity;
- to foster behavior change through group sessions and interactive activities; and
- to test whether the American Heart Association guidelines and materials can be utilized in a dietitian led model targeted to Hispanic elders.

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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