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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The goal of the Critical Time Intervention is to prevent homelessness among people with severe mental illness.
Impact: Evaluations of this program have found sizable reductions (24-67%) in average number of nights spent homeless over the 18-month follow-up period and more than a 60% reduction in likelihood of being homeless in the final weeks of the 18-month follow-up. Cost offsets and savings have been shown.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of Cultivando la Salud is to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among low-income Hispanic women.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease barriers and increase rates for colorectal cancer screening among low-income, non-English speaking patients.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children
Goal: The goals of DTBY are to improve parents' self-esteem, enhance decision-making skills, increase communication between parents and children, teach effective stress management, and strengthen peer support.
Impact: Several studies have demonstrated increases in parental self-efficacy and self-esteem among DTBY parents. Also, the use of harsh punishment decreased and effective discipline and limit-setting increased. Children involved in DTBY programming had greater average increases in developmental level.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends school-based programs to deliver dental sealants and prevent dental caries (tooth decay) among children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The primary aim of Draw the Line/Respect the Line is to reduce the number of students who initiate or have sexual intercourse and to increase condom use among those students who do have sexual intercourse.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults
Goal: Drinker's Check-up is designed to help problem drinkers reduce their alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences.
Impact: Study participants had a significant reduction in alcohol use, alcohol-related consequences, symptoms of alcohol dependence, and a decrease in ambivalence about reducing alcohol use.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of this peer-education intervention is to reduce injection risk behaviors for HIV and hepatitis C virus infection in young injection drug users.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to decrease alcohol-related automobile accidents during the prom season by making alcohol-awareness presentations to high school students.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families
Goal: The goal of this program is to help preschool children learn emotional self-regulation and facilitate their psychosocial development.
Impact: The Early HeartSmarts program was effective in increasing children’s social/emotional, physical, cognitive and language development in a classroom setting.