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.

Submit a Promising Practice

Safe Dates (North Carolina)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Children, Teens

Goal: The goals of the program are to increase students’ awareness of what constitutes healthy versus abusive dating relationships; to increase students’ awareness of dating abuse as well as its causes and consequences; to equip students with the skills and resources to help themselves or friends in abusive dating relationships; and to equip students with the skills to develop healthy dating relationships, including positive communication, anger management, and conflict resolution.

Impact: Safe Dates educates and equips youth to identify, address, and mitigate abusive and violent dating relationships.

Salem County School-to-Careers Initiative (Salem County, NJ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to help at-risk youth and young adults to finish high school, take college-level classes, and have structured work experiences that will lead to successful transitions to adulthood.

Saving Lives (Massachusetts)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety

Goal: The goal of this program was to improve transportation safety in Massachusetts.

Impact: The Saving Lives Program successfully reduced drunk driving by 42% and speeding-related crashes by 25% through community-based, innovative, and cost-effective interventions.

School Based Mentoring Program: Palm Beach (Palm Beach and Martin, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to make a positive difference in the lives of children, primarily through professionally guided one-to-one relationships with caring adults, and to assist them in achieving their highest potential, as they grow to become confident, competent and caring individuals.

School Food FOCUS (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: School Food FOCUS is a national collaborative that leverages the knowledge and procurement power of large school districts to make school meals nationwide more healthful, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced.

Impact: School Food FOCUS helps partners procure healthy and sustainable school foods, works towards policies that advance healthy school foods, and facilitates knowledge sharing around school food issues.

School Nutrition Policy Initiative (Philadelphia, PA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of the School Nutrition Policy Initiative is to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity among low-income children.

School-Based Asthma Therapy (Rochester, NY)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The objective of this study was to examine the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of the School-Based Asthma Therapy (SBAT) program compared with usual care.

Impact: School-Based Asthma Therapy resulted in 158 symptom-free days per month per 100 children and a cost-effectiveness of $10 per symptom-free day.

School-Based Intervention to Promote Tooth Brushing (Scotland)

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

Goal: The goal of this intervention was to reduce dental caries among children by promoting twice daily tooth brushing.

Impact: Supervised tooth brushing and positive reinforcement in a school setting decreased the rate of dental caries in participating children.

Schools and Families Educating Children (SAFEChildren)

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

Goal: The goal of the program is to help families gain or increase parenting and family management skills that would facilitate successful child academic and social adjustment and, therefore, to promote social and academic competence and to lower risk for later antisocial behavior. In addition, the intervention concentrates on promoting initial academic success.

Impact: Children who received the intervention improved in overall reading ability at a more rapid rate than those who did not receive the intervention. In addition, SAFEChildren participants showed an improvement in concentration.

Schools on Train Safety Program (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to introduce teachers, students, and chaperones to rail and train safety, the environment, and train travel. This program targets all students from kindergarten through high school.

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.