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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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The Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: To reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease by reducing risk factors among children.

CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Cancer Prevention & Control, Client-Oriented Screening Interventions: Group Education (USA)

CDC

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women

Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) finds insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of group education in increasing screening for cervical cancer based on the small number of studies with methodologic limitations and inconsistent findings.

CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Cancer Prevention & Control, Client-Oriented Screening Interventions: Group Education (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Adults

Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) finds insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of group education in increasing screening for colorectal cancer, based on the small number of studies with methodologic limitations and inconsistent findings.

Hypertension Initiative of South Carolina (South Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of the Hypertension Initiative is to improve blood pressure control rates to meet the Healthy People 2010 goal of 50% of all hypertensive patients controlling their blood pressure.

Information & Education Campaign for Health Care Providers (Santa Cruz County, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The goal of the project was to publish an up-to-date Essential Reporting Guidelines which would be distributed to approximately 90% of healthcare providers in Santa Cruz county. As mentioned above, they wanted to increase reporting and surveillance activities with the primary physicians and also educate them on bioterrorism agents.

Seat Belt Promotion in North Carolina (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase seat belt use through interactive road signs and law enforcement.

CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Increasing Tobacco Use Cessation: Mass Media Campaigns When Combined with Other Interventions (USA)

CDC

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Impact: The Task Force did not have enough evidence to determine whether the intervention is or is not effective. This does not mean that the intervention does not work, but rather that additional research is needed to determine whether or not the intervention is effective.

Climate Action Toolkit

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: As stated in the toolkit, the ultimate goal of Campus Climate Action is to achieve systemic/institutional commitment to a sustainable campus, including carbon neutrality, throughout all constituencies of the college or university (faculty, staff, students, and administration.)

Flex Your Power Case Study: Cypress Semiconductor (San Jose, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve energy efficiency at Cypress Semiconductor.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Natural Resources Defense Council (Santa Monica, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Robert Redford Building is to provide an example of sustainable and efficient design.

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.