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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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Trauma Center Intervention for Alcohol Disorders (Albuquerque, NM)

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

Goal: The goal of the Trauma Center Intervention for Alcohol Disorders is to reduce driving under the influence.

Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to facilitate trauma recovery among women with histories of exposure to sexual and physical abuse.

Impact: Studies demonstrated that TREM participants showed a significant reduction in severity of problems related to substance use from baseline to 12-month follow-up relative to the comparison group. Reduced trauma symptoms were also significantly greater for the intervention group than for the comparison group at 12-month follow-up. Furthermore, the intervention group had significantly reduced symptoms of psychological problems 1 year after the intervention.

Travel Blending® (Australia)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Transportation, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of Travel Blending® Program is to reduce personal vehicle use.

Impact: The Travel Blending program reduced car trips, car kilometers, and hours spend in the car.

Treatment Foster Care Oregon (Eugene, OR)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Teens

Goal: The goal of the TFCO program is to decrease problem behavior and to increase developmentally appropriate normative and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents who are in need of out-of-home placement.

Impact: When compared with the control group, TFCO youths spent 60% fewer days in incarceration, had significantly fewer subsequent arrests, and had significantly less hard-drug use.

TRUCE Fitness and Nutrition Center (Harlem)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: TRUCE works with young people in order to increase their awareness of fitness and health, improve their academic performance, and empower them to make healthier decisions.

Twelve Together (San Diego)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The Twelve Together program seeks to help students stay in school and make academic progress.

Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter (New York, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban

Goal: The goals of Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter are:
- To reduce street homelessness and the shelter population by two-thirds in five years.
- To eliminate chronic, or long-term, homelessness on City streets and shelters in five years.

The plan's objectives include initiatives to better serve individuals and families who are at-risk of homelessness or who become homeless, as well as ensure that the City and its citizens are maximizing public resources. The plan has nine points - encompassing 60 initiatives - that seek to:

- Overcome street homelessness
- Prevent homelessness
- Coordinate discharge planning
- Coordinate city services and benefits
- Minimize disruption to homeless families and children
- Minimize duration of homelessness
- Shift resources into preferred solutions
- Provide resources for vulnerable populations to access and afford housing
- Measure progress, evaluate success, and invest in continuous quality improvement.

Urban Improv (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Art & Recreation / Theater & Movies, Children, Urban

Goal: Urban Improv’s mission is to challenge young people to meet the major issues in their lives head-on. By participating in an innovative, interactive curriculum, students develop the necessary skills of problem solving, cooperation, and leadership.

Urban Mold and Moisture Program (Cuyahoga, OH)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Urban Mold and Moisture Program is to reduce environmental mold, moisture, and asthma triggers in homes to improve pediatric respiratory health.

Utilization of Food Sample Results to Improve Food Safety (Maricopa County, AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Food Safety

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the risk of foodborne illness for Maricopa County citizens and visitors by using food sample results to address complaints and increase the efficacy of routine inspections.

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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