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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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Living Wage Laws

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Economy, Adults

Goal: Expected Beneficial Outcomes: Increased earnings; Reduced poverty.

Mailed Psychoeducational Intervention for Colorectal Cancer Screening (England)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among older adults.

Impact: Participants in the intervention group had significantly higher colorectal cancer screening attendance, as well as having more positive attitudes about screening and placing a higher priority on screening.

Chronic Pain Self-Management Program (Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Other Conditions, Adults

Goal: CPSMP seeks to help build self-management skills in individuals who have a primary or secondary diagnosis of chronic pain.

Hearts for Life (Ontario, Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Hearts for Life program is to increase knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and encourage healthy cardiovascular behaviors.

Seat Belt Use Feedback Signs on Campus (Ontario, Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Teens

Goal: The goal of the seat belt feedback signs is to increase seat belt use among front seat occupants on a college campus.

Waterloo Smoking By-law and Cigarette Labeling (Canada)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Adults

Goal: The goal of this policy is to protect residents from second-hand smoke, encourage smoking cessation and raise public awareness about tobacco issues.

Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP) (Canada)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women

Goal: The goal of the Canada Prenatal Nutrition program is to improve birth outcomes by increasing access to prenatal care.

Tree Canada / Arbres Canada (Canada)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children

Goal: The goal of the Greening Canada’s Schools Grounds Program is to replace schoolyard asphalt with vegetation in order to enhance its play, educational, ecological and aesthetic value for school children.

Hepatitis B ESL Education Curriculum for Chinese Immigrants (Canada)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To educate the Chinese Canadian immigrant community on Hepatitis B knowledge and to promote Hepatitis B testing through ESL curriculum.

Impact: The Chinese immigrant population in North America has a rate of Hepatitis B infection that is 10 times higher than the general population's rate of approximately 0.5 percent. The Hepatitis B ESL curriculum is effective in increasing knowledge about Hepatitis B among Chinese immigrants in Canada.

Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Adults, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide parents with the necessary skills to improve their parent/child communication and overall family functioning.

Impact: STEP has been implemented in more than 1,000 schools, agencies, churches, and mental health treatment facilities since 1976, reaching more than 4 million parents. Outside the US, STEP has been implemented in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, and South Korea.

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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