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 Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: Shepherd's Center Central is a local leader in the regional effort to ensure that all people can age successfully with dignity, security, and respect.
Impact: The Wheels that Care program helped 77 older adults attend their necessary appointments and maintain their independence through 1,550 hours of travel time to and from participants' homes and their appointments.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Rural
Goal: The goal of the Winning With Wellness (WWW) project is to promote physical activity and healthier eating habits in order to reduce and prevent childhood obesity.
Impact: School wellness programs that are acceptable to teachers and utilize some already existing resources can create impact for rural youth by improving nutrition offerings in school and increasing physical activity during the school day.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Women's Health, Adults, Women, Urban
Goal: The goal of the WILLOW intervention is to provide women living with HIV/AIDS with the skills and education needed to support safer sexual decisions.
Impact: The WILLOW program succeeded in reducing the number of reported episodes of unprotected vaginal intercourse, increasing the use of condoms and condom self-efficacy, decreasing the incidence of bacterial infections (chlamydia and gonorrhea), and improving HIV knowledge.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women, Rural
Goal: Women to Women aims to provide social support for chronically ill rural women to positively affect social support, self-esteem, empowerment, self-efficacy in order to decrease stress, depression, and loneliness to improve one’s adaptation to living with a chronic disease.
The overall goal of WTW is to use technology to enhance the potential for rural women to more successfully adapt to their chronic illnesses through computer-based support and education research by providing support groups and health education via the Internet.
Impact: The WTW project shows that computer-based interventions can result in improved self-esteem, social support, and empowerment among rural women with chronic illness.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults
Goal: The goal of the Working toward Wellness program was to encourage depressed parents who were receiving Medicaid to seek treatment from a mental health professional.
Impact: The Working toward Wellness program succeeded in increasing the likelihood that depressed Medicaid parents sought mental health services, particularly among the Hispanic population.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Men
Goal: The goal of this exercise program was to reduce the incidence of diseases related to lifestyle, such as cerebrovascular diseases and ischemic heart diseases, and to preserve and promote workers' health.
Impact: The exercise program proved to be effective in increasing adaptive walking speed and in lowering waist to hip ratio.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults
Goal: The goal of the WorkWell Intiative is to recognize and support local employers in Thurston County, WA who make a commitment to address workforce health issues.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Families, Urban
Goal: Managed through the Child and Adolescent Services Branch of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Division in Wisconsin, Wraparound Milwaukee attempts to meet the mental heath, substance abuse, social service, and other supportive needs of the most complex youths in the Milwaukee community.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The objectives of WOW are to promote optimal health, to reduce behavioral risks and to promote early detection and improved management of health problems and risks.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy, Adults
Goal: Year Up's mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by ensuring that young adults gain the skills, experiences, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through careers and higher education.
Impact: These approaches tend to be intensive and comprehensive, address psycho-social skills as well as occupation-specific competencies, provide opportunities for work-based learning, engage employers, incorporate evidence-based practices, and emphasize continuous improvement.