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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Sembrando Salud (San Diego County, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Families

Goal: This program is designed to improve parent-child communication skills as a way of improving and maintaining healthy decision-making.

Shoulder to Shoulder (Twin Cities, MN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Families

Goal: The goal of Shoulder to Shoulder is to reach parents of teens with good advice about parenting their adolescents and help parents adopt strategies that are proven to reduce risky behaviors.

Signs to Promote Stair Use (El Paso, TX )

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Women, Men, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To increase physical activity among Hispanic populations by promoting the use of stairways.

Steps to a Healthier Salinas (Salinas)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The Steps to a Healthier Salinas program aims to improve the health and quality of life for individuals at risk or diagnosed with diabetes, asthma, and obesity and other chronic diseases by addressing three primary risk factors - physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use.

Supporting At-Risk Youth with Summer High School Preparatory Programs (Cherokee-Graham-Swain Counties, NC)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal is to help prepare at-risk youth to develop their academic skills and self-confidence for as they transition from middle school to high school.

Take Charge of Your Health (Augusta, GA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to reduce medical costs, to prevent premature institutionalization, and to save taxpayers' dollars. Additionally, the program aims to prevent depression among the elderly, reduce daily living activity limitations caused by chronic diseases and lack of exercise, and increase the quality of life among the older adults.

Teen Videofest (Tarrant County, TX)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of this project is to give teenagers a meaningful and valuable way to help other teens improve their health and well-being through the positive messages they incorporate in their videos.

TeleKidcare® (Kansas)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Families, Rural

Goal: The main goal of this project is to reduce the time that a child spends out of the classroom recuperating from an acute illness. This goal is based on the fact that TeleKidcare® transforms the school health room from a triage center to a site of care. TeleKidcare® also addresses the shared community goal of keeping children healthy and in school learning by providing health care service to children at school.

The Campaign for a Sustainable Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Urban

Goal: Sustainable Milwaukee's four task forces address major priorities: jobs and training, credit, transportation and the environment, and education.

The Continuum of Program-Enriched Services (Denver, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote economic survival and stability for vulnerable populations.

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.