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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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Explore (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Explore study is to prevent HIV infection among HIV-negative men who have sex with men.

Fathers at Work Initiative (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: The initiative's goal was to help young noncustodial fathers increase their employment and earnings, become more involved in their children's lives, and increase their financial support of their children.

First-grade Gardeners More Likely to Taste Vegetables (California)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of garden-based education programs for elementary-school students in order to develop and evaluate a comprehensive, garden-enhanced nutrition education program for elementary students.

FirstAir Asthma Education Program (Chicago, IL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Adults

Goal: The goal of the FirstAir Asthma Education Program is to increase knowledge of asthma treatments and improve self-management.

Growing Healthy (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The main objective of Growing Healthy is to give students the tools to resist the social pressures to smoke, use alcohol or other drugs, and engage in other risky behavior.

Kentucky Adolescent Tobacco Prevention Project (Lexington, KY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent tobacco use among middle school students who live in tobacco-producing areas.

Know Your Body

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of KYB is to teach students the necessary knowledge, attitudes, skills, and experience to practice positive health behaviors and reduce their risk of future illness.

Impact: Studies suggest that the program had a favorable impact on many risk factors, such as systolic and diastolic pressures, HDL cholesterol, ratio of total to HDL cholesterol, fitness (postexercise pulse recovery rate), and smoking.

Native American Prevention Project Against AIDS and Substance Abuse

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The primary goals of this project are to prevent HIV/AIDS and substance abuse among Native Americans.

Open Road of New York (New York, NY)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Urban

Goal: Open Road was created to develop programs and environments with and for young people that promote community, independence and self respect. They develop these programs in partnership with neighborhood groups in need of new natural, educational, and recreational environments. These new environments create new bonds between people of all ages, who unite to establish a living community resource.

Oral Health Care Education for Nursing Home Caregivers (UK)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this educational program was to improve the quality of oral health care nursing home residents received from their caregivers.

Impact: This study shows that oral health care education can improve caregivers' knowledge, attitudes and oral health care delivery for elderly clients.

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.