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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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Bicultural Competence Skills Approach

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Bicultural Competence Skills Approach is to prevent substance abuse by Native American adolescents.

Body & Soul (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Body & Soul program is to encourage African Americans to eat a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables in order to promote health and prevent cancer and other chronic diseases.

Campesinos Diabetes Management Program (Yuma County, AZ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Campesinos Diabetes Management Program was build social support as a means to improve self-management of diabetes.

Charlotte REACH 2010 (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To improve three health behaviors that are risk factors for diabetes and heart disease (fruit & vegetable consumption, physical activity, and cigarette smoking) in an African American community.

Child Pedestrian Injury Prevention Project (Perth, Western Australia)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children

Goal: The goal of this project was to improve children's road-related behavior and to enhance the safety of their road environment.

Club Denver After School Program (Denver, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to engage middle school students in constructive activity by getting them interested in future careers.

Community Home Buyer's Programme

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: Fannie Mae is committed to helping more people achieve the American Dream and to expanding minority homeownership.

Condom Promotion (Phoenix, AZ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Condom Promotion program was to increase condom use.

Developing Civic Service with a Teen Corps (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Teens

Goal: The goal is to encourage middle and high school students to increase their civic involvement.

Elders Living at Home Program (ELAHP) (Boston, MA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Older Adults

Goal: The mission of the Elders Living At Home Program is to support elders in making the transition out of homeless, to provide supportive services that build on the individual abilities of elders and to help them overcome the barriers to permanent housing.

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.