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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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Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum

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

Goal: The Second Step program is designed to increase students’ school success and decrease problem behaviors by promoting social-emotional competence and self-regulation.

Impact: A number of evaluations of the Second Step program have been conducted. Evaluations have found reductions in fighting and physical aggression, gains in pro-social skills and behavior, increased social competence, and increased knowledge of social skills.

SF Health Code Article 38: Enhanced Ventilation for Urban Sensitive Use Development (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The purpose of SF Health Code Article 38 is to protect residents from the effects of living in a poor air quality zone by requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings.

Impact: The City of San Francisco implemented a law requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings to protect residents from harmful particulate matter.

Starting Right Initiative

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: The Starting Right Initiative works to prevent, treat and reverse childhood obesity and malnutrition in low-income communities.

Impact: The Starting Right Initiative aims to encourage healthy eating habits in children and their families and works to reduce childhood obesity and malnutrition at seven project locations nationwide.

Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide parents with the necessary skills to improve their parent/child communication and overall family functioning.

Impact: STEP has been implemented in more than 1,000 schools, agencies, churches, and mental health treatment facilities since 1976, reaching more than 4 million parents. Outside the US, STEP has been implemented in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, and South Korea.

Targeted Tuberculosis Screening in Tarrant County (Tarrant County, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent the spread of tuberculosis among the homeless population.

Tarrant County WIC/Library Plan (Tarrant County, TX)

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

Goal: The goals of the Library plan are to promote early literacy, parent/child bonding, and breastfeeding education in the community.

Telephone Intervention for Family Caregivers of Stroke Survivors (Birmingham, AL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: The goal of this intervention is to provide family caregivers of stroke survivors with problem-solving skills and support to manage problems and cope with the stresses of care giving.

The Arkansas Wellness Coalition (AWC) (Arkansas)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The Coalition's purpose is to improve the health and well-being of all Arkansans through the implementation of nationally recognized peer-reviewed guidelines for physicians and patient self-management.

The Incredible Years: Palm Beach County (Palm Beach County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families

Goal: The program aims to promote social, emotional, and academic competence and to prevent children from developing conduct problems.

Impact: The Incredible Years series has been shown to increase positive parenting practices and family communication while reducing children's conduct problems.

The Loading Dock (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: TLD's mission is to increase the supply and use of affordable building materials for housing and community improvement by redirecting landfill-bound, reusable materials into productive use.

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.