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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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A Matter of Balance (Clay and Platte Counties, MO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goals of the program are to help participants learn how to view falls and the fear of falling as controllable, set realistic goals for increasing activity, change their environment to reduce fall risk factors, and exercise to increase strength and balance.

Impact: After completing the program, 97% of participants are more comfortable in talking about falls, 95% have made environmental changes, and 99.5% plan to continue exercising.

A Matter of Degree (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of the A Matter of Degree program is to reduce student drinking and driving after drinking.

Access to Care (Cook County)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Urban

Goal: Access to Care aims to meet primary health care needs of low-income uninsured individuals.

Access to Transportation and Health Care Visits for Medicaid Enrollees With Diabetes

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The goal of the study was to evaluate the association between Medicaid‐provided nonemergency medical transportation and diabetes care visits.

Impact: The findings of this study underscore the importance of ensuring transportation to Medicaid populations with diabetes, particularly in the rural areas where the prevalence of diabetes and complications are higher and the availability of medical resources lower than in the urban areas.

Achievement through Community Services, Education and Skill-Building (ACES) (Philadelphia, PA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote positive youth development and to help youth gain valuable work experience.

Active Design Guidelines (New York City, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Active Design Guidelines is to provide architects and urban designers with tools to create healthier buildings, urban spaces, and outdoor places based on current academic research and best practices.

ACTIVE Louisville’s Healthy Eating Initiative (Louisville, KY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote healthy eating in lower-income areas of Louiville. The initiative is part of a larger program with the goal of redesigning low-income urban neighborhoods to promote active living.

Acupuncturists Without Borders (Sandia Park, NM)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alternative Medicine

Goal: The mission of Acupuncturists Without Borders is to help alleviate suffering of people worldwide through community acupuncture treatment and training.

Adopt a Native Elder Program (Arizona and Utah)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Adopt a Native Elder program was established to build bridges between cultures and between individuals through the native tradition of adoption.

Adopt Your Watershed (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children, Adults

Goal: The goal of Adopt Your Watershed is to encourage environmental stewardship.

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.