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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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SMARTteam (Students Managing Anger and Resolution Together)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to teach conflict-resolution skills to middle-school students.

Impact: Studies showed a statistically significant increase in students' awareness of how their own behaviors contribute to the escalation of a conflict situation for students participating in SMARTteam when compared with the control group not receiving the intervention. Students in the intervention group were also less likely to value violence as an option in conflict situations than their peers in the control group.

Smile Programs... the mobile dentists (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children, Families

Goal: The Smile Programs... the mobile dentists mission is to bring state-of-the-art, dental care to those students in need in the most comfortable and effective way possible.

Impact: Smile Programs provides mobile dental care to children in schools in over a dozen states.

Specialisterne USA

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: Specialisterne provides training, education and employment for people with autism and similar challenges.

Impact: Specialisterne seeks to enable one million jobs worldwide for a target population that would otherwise face substantial barriers to employment.

SPORT (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of SPORT is to help adolescents avoid substance use by increasing physical activity and bettering their self images.

Impact: This program provides a whole body experience, where youth focus on improvements in their lives instead of drugs.

SPORT

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens

Goal: To reduce substance abuse and motivate positive behaviors including physical activity in adolescents age 13-17.

Impact: SPORT integrates content targeting alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention with promotion of physical activity and other health enhancing habits in adolescents.

Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of SPARK is to promote physical activity among youth through school-based programs.

Impact: A health-related physical education curriculum can significantly increase physical activity for students in physical education classes.

Stepping Up To Health (Michigan)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Urban

Goal: To determine whether online peer support will increase adherence to an Internet-based pedometer walking program.

Impact: Stepping up to Health shows that online communities can help reduce attrition within online health behavior change interventions.

Steps to a Healthier Washington (Washington)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Adults

Goal: The mission of the Steps to a Healthier Washington program is to integrate existing chronic disease programs to achieve policy and systems changes.

Strengthening Families Program/Strengthening Hawaii Families (Hawaii)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The program aims to reduce substance abuse risk factors and improve relationships in high-risk families.

Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 (Iowa)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Families

Goal: The goals of this program are to (1) prevent teen substance abuse and other behavior problems; (2) strengthen parenting skills; and (3) build family strengths.

Impact: The evaluation demonstrated that youths who participated in the study had less substance use, fewer conduct problems, and better resistance to peer pressure and that program parents were better able to show affection and support and set appropriate limits for their children.

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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