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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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The City as a Park - Climate change reduction and city beautification in Denver (City of Denver)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: To slow climate change by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while also establishing a network of public spaces where residents can walk to enjoy a vibrant urban landscape and healthy ecosystem.

Waterloo Smoking By-law and Cigarette Labeling (Canada)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Adults

Goal: The goal of this policy is to protect residents from second-hand smoke, encourage smoking cessation and raise public awareness about tobacco issues.

Weed and Seed (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The goals of Weed and Seed are to control violent crime, drug trafficking, and drug-related crime and provide a safe environment where residents can live, work, and raise their families.

West Nile Virus Surveillance and Control Program (Sedgwick County, KS)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The primary goal of the program is to protect the public from WNV by early detection of WNV and elimination of mosquitoes.

Cervical Cancer Screening and Follow-up (Brevard County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide timely, effective, clinically appropriate intervention for abnormal Pap tests at no or very-low cost in order to reduce cervical cancer mortality.

Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (Baltimore, MD)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to help all students achieve at the highest levels.

Kaiser Permanente Heart Healthy: Cardiovascular tools and protocols (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: To reduce death from heart disease among their members in Northern California.

Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program (Oregon)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce tobacco use in Oregon.

Prompting and Reminding at Encounters for Prevention (PREP) (Michigan)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Rural

Goal: The goal of the PREP computerized reminder system is to increase colorectal cancer screening.

Reaching Educators, Children, and Parents (RECAP) (Nashville, TN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children

Goal: The primary goal of the program is to reduce the level of children's psychological problems, as well as preventing the development of more serious problems among children who are not referred for formal mental health services.

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.