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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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Hypertension Initiative of South Carolina (South Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of the Hypertension Initiative is to improve blood pressure control rates to meet the Healthy People 2010 goal of 50% of all hypertensive patients controlling their blood pressure.

Let's Beat Diabetes (LBD) (South Auckland, New Zealand)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Urban

Goal: The goal of Let's Beat Diabetes is to prevent new and manage existing cases of Type II Diabetes.

Providing Reliable Used Cars to Low-Income Families (New Hampshire)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Poverty, Families

Goal: The mission of Wheels to Work (W2) is to promote self-reliance and the development of a productive workforce in New Hampshire by providing low-income workers who lack reliable transportation with dependable cars at affordable terms.

Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program (WAHCCP) seeks to improve communication between providers and adolescent patients, and therefore improve the delivery of sexual and reproductive health care to young people in Wisconsin.

Impact: The Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program bridges the communication gap between adolescents and their health care providers through two workshops resulting in increasing knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions among participants.

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Note: This practice has been Archived.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.

Developing Community Service Career Ladder Programs to Support Welfare-to-Work (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Poverty, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: A core objective of the career ladder model is to ensure that low-income participants progress beyond the paraprofessional level. The goal is to aid welfare recipients to move from welfare to the paraprofessional level, then on to a career.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Arden Realty and next>edge (Los Angeles, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of next>edge is to maximize energy efficiency for commercial facilities.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Azusa (Azusa, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of this program was to conserve energy in Azusa, California.

Information & Education Campaign for Health Care Providers (Santa Cruz County, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the project was to publish an up-to-date Essential Reporting Guidelines which would be distributed to approximately 90% of healthcare providers in Santa Cruz county. As mentioned above, they wanted to increase reporting and surveillance activities with the primary physicians and also educate them on bioterrorism agents.

InnVision the Way Home (San Jose to Redwood City)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: InnVision's mission is to empower homeless and at-risk families and individuals in finding a permanent home by offering various levels of housing and day programs in a safe and supportive environment that promotes self-worth and independent living.

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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