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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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Growing Through Loss Program (Indianapolis)

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

Goal: The goals of the program are to reduce the levels of depression and risk of destructive behaviors among grieving adolescents.

Harris County Pollution Control Ozone Monitoring (Harris County, TX)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase the amount of reliable air quality data that is available to the public in Harris County.

Health & Wellness for Teens Living with Disabilities (Portland, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Disabilities, Teens

Goal: The project goals included sensitizing professionals-in-training to core areas of health promotion for teens with disabilities and increasing professionals' competence in understanding the issues and addressing the needs of teens or referring teens to appropriate resources.

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 House (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve indoor air quality and energy efficiency.

Health Impact Assessment in Land Use Development (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure that city planning and policy making accounts for how land use development impacts community health resources.

Health in Housing: Exploring the Intersection between Housing and Health Care (Oregon)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health

Goal: To assess the impact of affordable housing on health care outcomes in a low-income population who have experienced housing instability.

Impact: Costs to health care systems were lower after people moved into affordable housing. Primary care visits went up after move-in; emergency department visits went down. Residents reported that access to care and quality of care improved after moving into housing.

Health Plan of San Mateo Housing Supports Pilot (San Mateo County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program was to target the housing support needs of its members with the objective of reducing institutionalization, improving quality of life, and reducing total costs of care.

Impact: The large majority of participants surveyed indicated that their quality of life was maintained or increased during the pilot and that they were satisfied with the program.

HealthTran (Jefferson City, Missouri)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults, Rural

Goal: To provide transportation to patients in South Central Missouri who otherwise have non-existent, limited, or expensive transportation options to and from healthcare appointments.

Impact: HealthTran has helped to improve healthcare access and long-term health outcomes, as well as reduced preventable hospitalizations and unnecessary emergency department visits.

Healthy Active Lents (Portland, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote active people in active neighborhoods

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.