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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Older Adults, Urban
Goal: CAPABLE is a 5-month structured home visit program delivered by an occupational therapist (OT), a registered nurse (RN), and a handyman to improve daily function in older adults and to lower the monthly average Medicaid expenditure and likelihood of costly healthcare services.
Impact: This study demonstrates that home visit programs can improve the daily quality of life in aging adults. Additionally, they can lead to a reduction in Medicaid expenditures via lower inpatient costs and lower long-term care costs.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Adults
Goal: The program's mission is to improve the quality of early learning programs by focusing on increasing the quality, effectiveness, and retention of early educators.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of this program is to use peer communication to improve access to potentially lifesaving early detection services.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens
Goal: The goal of CAST training is to deliver life-skills training to high-risk high school students in order to increase mood management skills, improve school performance, and decrease drug involvement.
Impact: CAST participants in several NIH-funded studies saw significant and sustained reduction of suicide risk behaviors, reduction of drug use, reduction in depression, increase in personal control, increase in problem-solving, and increase in family support.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to help children recognize and deal with anxiety.
Impact: Studies have found that participants in the Coping Cat program show significant reductions in anxiety and fear, improvements in ability to cope with dreaded situations, and a reduction in the frequency of negative thoughts during the week.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends school-based programs to deliver dental sealants and prevent dental caries (tooth decay) among children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity
Goal: MANNA uses nutrition to improve health for people with serious illnesses who need nourishment to heal. By providing medically tailored meals and nutrition education, we empower people to improve their health and quality of life.
Impact: MANNA members report significant health care cost reductions due to improved health.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: To evaluate the association of a “Housing First” intervention for chronically homeless individuals with severe alcohol problems with health care use and costs.
Impact: Total cost offsets for Housing First participants relative to controls averaged $2449 per person per month after accounting for housing program costs.
Medicaid Savings Resulted When Community Health Workers Matched Those With Needs To Home And Community Care (Arkansas)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce costs by using specially trained community health workers to help connect people with unmet long-term needs and/or those at risk of entering nursing homes to Medicaid home and community-based services.
Impact: Similar interventions may help other localities achieve cost-saving and equitable access to publicly funded long-term care options other than institutional care.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends depression care management at home for older adults with depression on the basis of strong evidence of effectiveness in improving short-term depression outcomes.