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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy, Rural
Medical-legal partnerships perform advocacy services for vulnerable and under-served populations. These populations are typically burdened disproportionately by legal and medical problems. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of a rural medical-legal partnership (MLP).
The rural medical-legal partnership continued to show social and financial impacts, such as health care recovery dollars (319% return on investment between 2007 and 2009), Social Security benefits, family law services, and end-of-life guidance.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
AccessHealth Spartanburg's mission is to improve access to healthcare for the uninsured of Spartanburg County, SC.
AHS reduced inappropriate emergency room use and inpatient caseloads while increasing access to healthcare services for its clients in Spartanburg County. Furthermore, the organization reported a $17 to $1 ROI.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
The goal of this program is to reduce alcohol misuse among adolescents.
Middle school students who receive the curriculum have increased knowledge about alcohol misuse when compared to a control group. Students who received programming in the 10th grade had significantly increased alcohol misuse prevention knowledge, decreased alcohol misuse, and increased refusal skills. During their first year of driving, students who received the curriculum were involved in fewer serious traffic or drug offenses than students in the control group.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Urban
ASSIST aims to develop a diverse group consisting of young people that will then influence their peers to defy the idea of smoking thus reducing the number of adolescent smokers and reducing its health effects.
A peer-led intervention reduced smoking among adolescents at a modest cost: the ASSIST program cost of £32 ($42 USD) (95% CI = £29.70–£33.80) per student. The incremental cost per student not smoking at 2 years was £1,500 ($1984 USD) (95% CI = £669–£9,947).
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
1. Carry out a multi-agency law enforcement (suppression) strategy to reduce gun-related and other violent crimes committed by youths 17 and older.
2. Operate an intensive intervention program to reduce the risk factors for the highest risk youths, their families, and the community.
3. Mobilize the community at the grassroots level to address the problems of hard-to-reach families and the highest risk youths.
4. Operate a long-range prevention program that identifies, links, and strengthens existing resources to serve youths who may be at risk.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Air, Children, Teens, Adults
The Breathe Better Air at School Program aims to educate parents, staff, bus drivers, and faculty about the importance of not idling vehicles on campus.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Interventions to Promote Seasonal Influenza Vaccinations among Healthcare Workers (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults
Studies found a median increase of 21.0 percentage points in vaccination coverage among participants.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Preventing Excessive Alcohol Consumption: Regulation of Alcohol Outlet Density (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens, Urban
The goal of this program is to improve classroom management in order to provide a better learning environment that fosters academic success.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families
The goal of this program is to help preschool children learn emotional self-regulation and facilitate their psychosocial development.
The Early HeartSmarts program was effective in increasing children’s social/emotional, physical, cognitive and language development in a classroom setting.