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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 Mercury Challenge (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of the Mercury Challenge is to eliminate mercury from industrial sites.

The Millennium Project

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance

Goal: The Project's central objective is to provide information to decision makers and training materials to add focus to important issues, clarify choices and improve the quality of decisions by making future opportunities and dangers more explicit. The Project is not a one-time study of the future, but provides an on-going capacity for global research and collaboration.

The Tri-State Stroke Network

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of the Network is to increase public awareness about the signs and symptoms of stroke.

Across Ages

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to enhance the resiliency of children in order to promote positive development and prevent them from engaging in high-risk behaviors such as substance use, early sexual activity, or violence.

Impact: Studies of the program showed that participants' reactions to situations involving drug use and their attitudes toward school, the future, and elders were significantly better than those without the intervention. Students in the program also had fewer days absent from school than nonparticipants.

Asthma Self-Management Program (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Asthma Self-Management Program is to improve asthma self-management and outcome.

Be Active Kids® (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the Be Active Kids program is to promote healthy lifestyles and good healthy by giving young children the tools they need to develop positive physical activity and nutrition habits.

CINCH Asthma Workgroup (Virginia)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of CINCH’s Asthma Workgroup is to improve pediatric asthma care among underserved youth.

Florida's Marriage and Family Support Initiatives (Florida)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide comprehensive statewide strategies for Florida to promote violence-free, substance-abuse-free, respectful, nurturing families based on the foundation of a healthy marriage relationship between parents.

Food Stamps and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) at Arizona Farmer's Markets (Arizona)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance

Goal: To help low-income people increase their access to healthy foods while building community and economic assets through local food production and distribution.

Good Behavior Game (Baltimore, MD)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children

Goal: The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is designed to improve aggressive/disruptive classroom behavior and prevent later criminality.

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.