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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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Sources of Strength Suicide Prevention Program

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

Goal: The goal of this intervention was to enhance protective factors associated with reducing suicide among high school students.

Impact: The Sources of Strength program was successful in increasing students likelihood of seeking help from an adult at school, as well as those adults ability to help suicidal students.

Alcohol and Other Drug Death Review (Humboldt County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The goal of this program is to involve community partners in reviewing individual deaths, generating recommendations for improved community collaboration, and initiating new practices.

Child Day Care Facility Siting Review (Nassau, NY)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure the health and safety of children attending day care facilities and the staff who care for them.

Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program - Community Capacity Project (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban

Goal: The CCP is a part of a comprehensive childhood lead poisoning program that seeks to eradicate childhood lead poisoning in Milwaukee by the year 2010.

Chronic Lead Poisoning Team Intervention Program (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goals of this program are to identify children at risk for chronic lead poisoning, to decrease blood lead levels in chronically poisoned children, and to help families find stable, lead-free housing.

KCEOC Family Health Clinic (Kern County, CA)

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

Goal: The goal of the Clinic is to provide health services for uninsured and underinsured families and individuals.

Marion County Indigent Care Program (Marion County, FL)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve health care accessibility and availability for low income, uninsured and underinsured residents of Marion County.

Michigan Child Death Review Program (Michigan)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The purpose of CDR is to use the findings from the reviews to improve agency systems and to take action to prevent other deaths.

Milwaukee Extreme Heat Plan (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mortality Data, Children, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce heat-related morbidity and mortality in Milwaukee.

Multicultural Health Promoters Program (Montgomery County, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goals of the program are to improve the health of recent immigrant families by training native speakers from different countries to help enroll members of their communities in various publicly funded health programs.

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.
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