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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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Childhood Matters/Nuestro Niños (Northern California)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Families

Goal: The programs’ mission is to inform and inspire parents and all who care about children so that every child may be happy, healthy, and thrive.

Children and Neighbors Defeat Obesity (CAN DO) Houston (Houston, Texas)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of CAN DO Houston is to prevent childhood obesity in the Houston area by facilitating programs that encourage good nutrition, physical activity, and healthy minds.

Choosing Healthy And Rewarding Meals (CHARM) School Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Choosing Healthy and Rewarding Meals (CHARM) School Program is to promote healthy eating habits and teach life skills.

Chronic Pain Self-Management Program (Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Other Conditions, Adults

Goal: CPSMP seeks to help build self-management skills in individuals who have a primary or secondary diagnosis of chronic pain.

Clean Marinas (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of this program is to protect and improve coastal water quality.

Climate Leaders (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of Climate Leaders is to aid companies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Club HERO (Helping Everyone Reach Out) (Atlanta, GA)

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

Goal: The goal of Club HERO is encourage feelings of support at home and school and increase knowledge about the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs to prevent youths' drug use.

Combined Heat and Power Partnership (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The CHP Partnership is a voluntary program that seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by promoting the use of CHP.The Partnership works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other stakeholders to support the development of new projects and promote their energy, environmental, and economic benefits.

Common Ground (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Common Ground seeks to help homeless individuals and families develop stability and independence by providing housing and support services.

Communicable Disease Prevention/Public Health Preparedness: HealthSentry (Kansas City, MO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The goal of HealthSentry is to meet the challenge of linking public health organizations to reliable clinical data without burdensome manual data collection and reporting.more timely and accurate reporting.

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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