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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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Eat Well, Play Hard (Elyria, OH)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children

Goal: The goals of this program are to increase developmentally appropriate physical activity, to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables by children, and to increase the consumption of low-fat milk products and calcium-rich foods. The long-range goal is to incorporate this theme into the life of Lorain County children through collaboration with schools, agencies and facilities that provide services and activities for children and their families.

Enhanced Patient-Based Referral for Sexually Transmitted Infection Notification (New York (Brooklyn))

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this intervention is to promote patient referral among patients with a recent STI diagnosis.

Impact: Program participants were more likely to report sexual partner notification at 1 month and were more likely to report no unprotected sexual intercourse at 6 months.

Green Buildings, Local Law 86 (New York)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of this legislation is to promote the design of more efficient buildings; thereby, reducing green house gas emissions, reducing energy costs, decreasing the use of potable water, and reducing the amount of stormwater runoff.

Healthy Living Project (HLP)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To eliminate or reduce sexual transmission risk behavior, to eliminate or reduce injection drug use risks and to improve health care practices and quality of life among people living with HIV.

Help Educate to Eliminate Diabetes (HEED) (New York)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Project HEED is to lessen the incidence of diabetes in ethnic minority communities through peer-led educational interventions focusing on weight loss.

I Have a Dream

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

Goal: The "I Have a Dream"® Program helps children from low-income areas reach their education and career goals by providing a long-term program of mentoring, tutoring, and enrichment with an assured opportunity for higher education.

Incorporating HIV Services into Tuberculosis Contact Investigations (New York)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide HIV testing and services to individuals involved in tuberculosis contact investigations.

Infant Health and Development Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program was to reduce health and developmental problems for low-birth-weight and premature infants.

KidzLit and KidzMath (USA)

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

Goal: These programs aim to improve both academic and interpersonal skills in elementary school aged children.

Living in the Face of Trauma (LIFT)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Women, Men

Goal: Eliminate or reduce sexual transmission risk behavior and to improve coping with the combined stressors of HIV infection and child sexual abuse.

Impact: LIFT intervention participants reported significantly fewer counts of unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse with all partners (p < .001) and with HIV-negative or unknown serostatus partners (p < .001), compared to support group participants.

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.