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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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Ask Elizabeth: empowerment workshops for adolescent girls

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: To empower and support adolescent females and provide a safe forum for girls to ask questions and solve problems.

Aspiritech (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: Aspiritech's mission is to provide a path for high-functioning individuals on the autism spectrum to realize their potential through meaningful employment.

Aspirnaut™ Program (Arkansas, Maine, Montana, Tennessee)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens, Rural

Goal: The goal of the program is to elevate math and science achievement of students in rural communities through the use of technology.

Assisted Care/Aftercare (San Francisco, CA )

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To provide HIV positive youth aged 18 to 24 with stable housing situations and access to adequate medical services.

Assisted Competitive Employment Project (ACE) (Syracuse, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Assisted Competitive Employment Project is to assist individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder in obtaining and maintaining employment.

Asthma Care Training (ACT) for Kids (Bronx, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families

Goal: Effective asthma control can improve quality of life, reduce medical costs, and reduce the number of asthma-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, school and work days missed, days of restricted activity, and deaths each year.

Asthma Home Visiting Program (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The Asthma Home Visiting Program aims to reduce asthma triggers present in the home.

Impact: Home visiting can help reduce asthma triggers in the home, decreasing symptoms, missed days of work or school, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Asthma Outreach Worker Program for Children With Asthma (Tacoma-Pierce County, Washington)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families

Goal: To increase utilization of asthma management plans and improve quality of life while reducing environmental triggers of asthma in the household and hospitalizations due to asthma among children.

Impact: Short-term community-based asthma outreach workers for children can be effective in enhancing self-management capabilities, improving the quality of life, increasing the use of asthma management plans, and helping families reduce asthma triggers at home.

At the Crossroads (ATC) (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The mission of At The Crossroads is to reach out to homeless youth and young adults at their point of need, and provide them with services and programs that will empower them and improve their lives.

Avenues to Independence (ATI) (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To provide shelter to homeless and at-risk young adults aged 18-24 as well as assistance to secure stable and independent living situations.

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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