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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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Tai Chi -- Moving for Better Balance

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: To use tai chi exercise to improve balance and decrease incidence of falls among older adults.

Impact: The program shows that ta chi can significantly improve health-related outcome measures in older adults and such a program can be practically and effectively implemented and maintained in community settings.

THINK Together (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino)

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

Goal: THINK together's mission is to provide high quality academically-oriented out-of-school programs for students regardless of race, creed, or socioeconomic status.

A Text Message-Based Intervention for Weight Loss (San Diego County, CA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults

Goal: To reduce weight in overweight and obese patients using mobile-based text and multimedia messaging.

Impact: At the end of a 4-month period, participants in the text-message based intervention showed greater weight loss than the control group.

Border Binge-Drinking Reduction Program (Tijuana, Mexico)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce public health and safety problems related to U.S. teen & binge drinking in Mexico.

Impact: With IPS leadership, there was a reduction in youth nighttime crashes by 45% and 37% fewer nighttime crossers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher.

Breathmobile® (San Bernardino, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children

Goal: The goal of the Breathmobile® program is to help children control their asthma by providing accessible care at local school sites.

Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training (San Diego, CA)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce disability in middle-aged and older people with schizophrenia.

Impact: At the end of treatment, CBSST participants had significantly greater cognitive insight scores, indicating more objectivity in reappraising psychotic symptoms relative to treatment as usual. At 1-year follow-up, participants in CBSST showed greater skill acquisition and significant improvements in social functioning relative to participants receiving treatment as usual.

Community Van

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Rural

Goal: The San Juan Regional Medical Center community van aims to meet the transportation needs among citizens of the Four Corners region for reliable access to quality healthcare.

Domestic Violence Emergency Response Teams for Zero Tolerance (DVERT/ZT) (Santa Barbara County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Families, Urban

Goal: The program works to counsel and assist domestic violence victims by providing them with information about available resources and services, as well as their legal and other options. They also offer medical assistance and emergency shelter, including transportation to the shelter. Through legal advocacy and education, DVERT teams work to reduce domestic violence in Santa Barbara County.

Functional Adaptation Skills Training (FAST) (San Diego, CA)

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

Goal: The goal of FAST is to improve patients' independence and quality of life.

Impact: Studies have shown that FAST-treated patients' performance on everyday living skills improved significantly compared to non-participants. They also demonstrated significant improvement in social and communication skills at 6-month follow-up.

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.
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