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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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Head to Toe Weight Management Program (St. Louis, MO)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens, Families, Urban

Goal: The mission of Head to Toe is to teach children and their families the skills to manage body weight as they grow by living a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity, healthy eating habits, and a positive self-image.

Impact: From August 2011 to May 2016, 485 children and their parents or guardians have enrolled in the Head to Toe program. Head to Toe has effectively increased knowledge of nutrition, physical activity and emotional health among participants.

Healthier Living with Arthritis Online Workshop (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Other Conditions, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The program is focused on reduction of pain and improvement of function for arthritis patients unable or unwilling to attend small group ASMPs, which have proven effective in changing health-related behaviors and improving health status measures.

Healthy Relationships

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Women, Men

Goal: The goal of Healthy Relationships is to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by people who know they are HIV-positive by reducing the frequency with which they have unprotected sex.

Impact: Healthy Relationships seeks to develop decision making and problem making skills to reduce the risk and transmission of HIV through behavioral intervention. An intervention study resulted in significantly less unprotected intercourse and greater condom use with lower estimated HIV rates post-intervention.

Kaiser Kids Sun Care Program (Colorado)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Children, Families

Goal: To increase sun protection behaviors in early childhood.

Maine Youth Overweight Collaborative (Maine)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: MYOC aims to improve clinical practice, care, and outcome regarding children's weight.

Many Men, Many Voices (3MV)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Reduce unprotected insertive and receptive anal intercourse among HIV-negative black men who have sex with men (MSM) as well as to reduce the number of sex partners, increase consistent condom use during anal intercourse and increase testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

National Diabetes Prevention Program (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The National Diabetes Prevention Program encourages collaboration among federal agencies, community-based organizations, employers, insurers, health care professionals, academia, and other stakeholders to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes among people with prediabetes in the United States.

Impact: The National Diabetes Prevention Program is a cost-effective method to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among individuals with prediabetes.

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education, Teens

Goal: The mission of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is to intervene in the lives of high-school dropouts and provide them with the values, life skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed.

Impact: The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program resulted in participants succeeding in several aspects of their lives compared to their control group counterparts. Program participants were more likely to have a GED certificate, more likely to have started college, and more likely to be working.

New York State Smokers' Quitline (New York)

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

Goal: The New York State Smokers' Quitline is a free and confidential service that provides effective stop smoking services to New Yorkers who want to stop smoking.

Pasos Adelante (Arizona)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Pasos Adelante is a lifestyle intervention that aims to prevent and control chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes in Mexican Americans by providing a supporting environment for improving nutrition and increasing walking activity in U.S.-Mexico border communities.

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.