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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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Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Families

Goal: The goal of the HOPWA program is to help families pay housing expenses so that they are not displaced due to costs and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.

Hypertension Treatment in Barbershops (Dallas, TX)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce blood pressure among African American men.

I Am Moving, I Am Learning (West Virginia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goals of the I Am Moving, I Am Learning program is to prevent childhood obesity by (1) increasing the quantity of time children spend in moderate to vigorous physical activity; (2) improving the quality of structured movement activities in the classroom; and (3) promoting healthy food choices among Head Start children.

Ignition Interlock (Maryland)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Ignition Interlock program is to reduce drunk driving among alcohol traffic offenders.

Imagination Library

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote children's imagination, and to nurture children's aspirations and dreams for the future.

Immunization Case Management Intervention (Los Angeles, CA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of this immunization case management intervention is to improve immunization rates among infants of low-income, urban, African American families.

Impact: Immunization case management increased the knowledge of immunization schedules, rate of well-child visits, and up-to-date immunization rate for children of participating families.

IMPACT (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of IMPACT is to improve depression treatment by providing collaborative care to older adults.

In Our Own Back Yard (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children

Goal: The goal of the In Our Own Back Yard program is to cultivate connection to, comfort in, and informed appreciation of the outdoors among participants.

Incorporating HIV Services into Tuberculosis Contact Investigations (New York)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide HIV testing and services to individuals involved in tuberculosis contact investigations.

Increased Medicaid Reimbursements to Enhance Breast/Cervical Cancer Screening Project (Leon County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among medically underserved women.

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.