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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Creating Lasting Family Connections

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce drug and alcohol use among teenagers.

Impact: Evaluations found significant increases in knowledge and healthy beliefs about alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse by parents. Youth in the program significantly increased their use of community services and delayed onset of ATOD use. Families participating in the program significantly increased youth involvement in setting and following family ATOD rules.

Critical Time Intervention

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders

Goal: The goal of the Critical Time Intervention is to prevent homelessness among people with severe mental illness.

Impact: Evaluations of this program have found sizable reductions (24-67%) in average number of nights spent homeless over the 18-month follow-up period and more than a 60% reduction in likelihood of being homeless in the final weeks of the 18-month follow-up. Cost offsets and savings have been shown.

Cultivando la Salud (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Cultivando la Salud is to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among low-income Hispanic women.

DARE to be You

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The goals of DTBY are to improve parents' self-esteem, enhance decision-making skills, increase communication between parents and children, teach effective stress management, and strengthen peer support.

Impact: Several studies have demonstrated increases in parental self-efficacy and self-esteem among DTBY parents. Also, the use of harsh punishment decreased and effective discipline and limit-setting increased. Children involved in DTBY programming had greater average increases in developmental level.

Dental Caries (Cavities): School-Based Dental Sealant Delivery Programs

CDC

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.

Draw the Line/Respect the Line (Northern California)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The primary aim of Draw the Line/Respect the Line is to reduce the number of students who initiate or have sexual intercourse and to increase condom use among those students who do have sexual intercourse.

Drug User Intervention Trial (DUIT) (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of this peer-education intervention is to reduce injection risk behaviors for HIV and hepatitis C virus infection in young injection drug users.

Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Rural

Goal: The goal of ELSB is to help moderately to severely disabled children develop the skills and behaviors they need to succeed in a standard reading program.

Impact: ELSB demonstrates that reading skills curriculum adapted to alternative instructional needs of cognitively disabled children can more effectively improve literacy as compared to sight-word-only programs.

Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less (North Carolina)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: To reverse the rising tide of obesity and chronic disease among North Carolinians by helping them to eat smart, move more and achieve a healthy weight.

Impact: ESMMWL teaches healthy lifestyle behaviors surround diet and exercise so that participants may incorporate them into their lives in a sustained manner and sustain weight loss.

Emergency Department Means Restriction Education

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety

Goal: The goal of Emergency Department Means Restriction Education is to help parents and adult caregivers of at-risk youth recognize the importance of taking immediate action to restrict access to firearms, alcohol, and prescription and over-the-counter drugs in the home in order to lessen the risk of self harm.

Impact: The Means Restriction program shows that ED-based programs and provided practical information can help parents and adult caregivers of at-risk youth recognize the importance of taking immediate, new action to restrict access to dangers in the home.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

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.
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:

The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
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:

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.
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.
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.