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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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Health Education to Reduce Obesity (HERO) (Jacksonville, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: To combat childhood obesity through mobile health education, community partnership, and access to existing federal, state, and local health and nutrition programs.

Health Equity: School-Based Health Centers

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of school-based health centers is to reduce gaps in education and increase health equity in low-income communities.

Impact: When targeted to low-income communities, school-based health centers are likely to narrow gaps in education and improve health equity.

Health Science in Motion (Palm Beach County)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of HSIM is to increase at-risk youth interest in health sciences through its hands-on curriculum on the heart and DNA.

Health Through Art (Berkeley )

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To use the powerful methods of mass media to market positive attitudes and healthy lifestyle choices and to provide dynamic messages against substance abuse, racism, violence and mental health stigma.

Healthy Children, Healthy Weights (Columbus, OH)

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

Goal: The goal of the HCHW toolbox is to provide focused messages related to promoting a healthy weight in young children, along with practical strategies that may be used in multiple settings.

Healthy Eating Lifestyle Program (HELP) (Los Angeles)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The program's goal is to help overweight children aged 5-12 years and their families adopt healthier eating habits and increase physical activity.

Healthy Eating, Active Communities (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Healthy Eating, Active Communities (HEAC) aims to fight the growing childhood obesity epidemic in California and to develop state policy changes that will reduce the risk factors for diabetes and obesity.

Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of the HEAL initiative is empower communities to make changes in their physical and social environment to improve nutrition and physical activity.

Healthy Families New York (New York)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The goals of HFNY are to promote positive parent-child interaction; to ensure optimal pre-natal care; to promote healthy childhood growth and development; and to enhance family functioning.

Impact: Mothers participating in the HFNY study were significantly less likely to deliver low-birth-weight babies than mothers in the control group (3.3% vs 8.3%). HFNY parents also reported having engaged in significantly fewer acts of serious abuse and neglect.

Healthy for Life (Orange )

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families

Goal: Healthy For Life is school and community-based intervention program that promotes proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits in order to reduce childhood obesity in Orange County, CA.

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.