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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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Sistering, Informing, Healing, Living, and Empowering (Birmingham, AL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens, Women

Goal: The SiHLE intervention aims to reduce sexual risk behaviors among sexually experienced African American adolescents.

Teenage Health Teaching Modules

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide adolescents with the knowledge and skills to act in ways that enhance their immediate and long-term health.

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Note: This practice has been Archived.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.

Asthma Outreach Program (Seattle)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goals of the project were to assess the feasibility of the Asthma Outreach Worker model and evaluate any impact on unscheduled health service use for asthma.

Choices (Seattle-King County, WA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Choices intervention is to provide heterosexually active women with skills to decrease risky sexual behaviors and prevent STD transmission.

Impact: Significantly reduced risky sexual behaviors from baseline levels and maintained this reduction at twelve months post-intervention. Choices participants were significantly likely to acquire a new STD.

Community Coalition: Crime Reduction Through Closing Liquor Stores in South Los Angeles (South Los Angeles)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Prevention & Safety, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To reduce alcohol and drug related crime and violence in South Los Angeles by closing liquor stores known to be involved in or at the center of crime, violence and illegal activity.

Fast Track Summer Exposure Camp (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Fast Track camp is to prepare young student athletes to make a successful transition from high school to college academically, athletically, and socially.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Arden Realty and next>edge (Los Angeles, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of next>edge is to maximize energy efficiency for commercial facilities.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Poway (Poway, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of the City of Poway's projects was to improve energy efficiency and to reduce energy costs.

Health Works for Women (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Health Works for Women aims to help low-income and minority women improve their health by eating healthier, being physically active, quitting smoking, and managing their stress.

Impact: This health promotion project was a successful model for blue collared women to obtain certain health behavior changes.

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.
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