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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 PanAfrican Acupuncture Project (Brookline, MA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alternative Medicine

Goal: The goal of the PanAfrican Acupuncture Project is to train locals in acupuncture techniques so that they can use this alternative healing method in their communities to treat symptoms of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB.

The Strive Partnership (Cincinnati, OH)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The Strive Partnership is focused on the success of children: every child, every step, from cradle to career.

Washington State Translation Program (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure that Washington's Social and Health Services are available and accessible to all Washington residents.

Working toward Wellness (Rhode Island)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Working toward Wellness program was to encourage depressed parents who were receiving Medicaid to seek treatment from a mental health professional.

Impact: The Working toward Wellness program succeeded in increasing the likelihood that depressed Medicaid parents sought mental health services, particularly among the Hispanic population.

Abriendo Puertas / Opening Doors Network (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Abriendo Puertas, developed for and by Latino parents, aims to increase the number of Latino children in the United States that enter school ready to learn and be able to succeed in life by building the capacity and confidence of parents to be strong advocates in the lives of their children.

Air North Texas (Texas)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of the partnership is to offer the public a comprehensive air quality resource while promoting a consistent regional air quality message.

Avon Park Youth Academy and Street Smart Program (Florida)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens

Goal: The program’s goal is to provide specialized, remedial education and intensive vocational training to moderate risk youth committed to Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice.

Baystate-Springfield Educational Partnership (BSEP) (Springfield, MA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal is to guide students from underserved communities towards careers in healthcare, simultaneously fulfilling workforce needs.

Beginning Education Early: Strengthening Rural Alabama Families (Choctaw County, AL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Rural

Goal: The BEE Program seeks to strengthen parents' abilities to provide the physical and emotional support necessary for children's healthy growth and development by giving them otherwise unavailable access to parenting and early childhood education.

Better Choices, Better Health (USA)

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

Goal: Better Choices, Better HealthTM gives people with chronic conditions the skills to coordinate all the things needed to manage their heath, as well as to help them keep active in their lives.

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.