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 Local, Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The goal of BSFT is to improve a youth's behavior problems by improving family interactions that are presumed to be directly related to the child's symptoms, thus reducing risk factors and strengthening protective factors for adolescent drug abuse and other conduct problems.
Impact: Adolescents who participated in BSFT showed a significantly greater reduction in conduct problems than adolescents in the comparison condition, who received a participatory-learning group intervention. BSFT participants also showed a significantly greater reduction in socialized aggression.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of FET is to strengthen families by increasing their ability to adapt to new situations, particularly developmental and cultural challenges the family will face.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The primary goal of the GRP is to reduce youth gang crime and violence in targeted neighborhoods/communities by addressing the personal, family and community factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang activity.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: The goal of this program is to help protect, restore, and conserve the air, water, land and ecosystem resources of Miami-Dade County.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education, Adults
Goal: The goal of the program is to enhance services to unemployment insurance (UI) claimants and connecting to reemployment opportunities by collaborating efforts between Employment Services (ES) and Unemployment Insurance to be provided at the same time. This collaborative helps customer service by making follow-up easier and build rapport with the customers. Additionally, it sought to save time by cutting out the middle man and saving money by combining both the National Reemployment Services (RES) and Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment (REA) initiatives.
Impact: REA participants received 3.13 fewer weeks of benefits compared to control group peers and received $536 less in regular UI benefits. Program participants were 20 times more likely to obtain employment in the first 2 quarters after program entry.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among older adults.
Impact: Participants in the intervention group had significantly higher colorectal cancer screening attendance, as well as having more positive attitudes about screening and placing a higher priority on screening.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce drug and alcohol use among teenagers.
Impact: Evaluations found significant increases in knowledge and healthy beliefs about alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse by parents. Youth in the program significantly increased their use of community services and delayed onset of ATOD use. Families participating in the program significantly increased youth involvement in setting and following family ATOD rules.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Children, Teens, Women, Urban
Goal: The mission of La Casa de las Madres is to help victims of domestic violence.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children
Goal: The goal of Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) is to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce obesity in preschool, elementary, and middle school aged children.
Impact: CATCH is successful in improving participants' diet and physical activity, and the results lasted three years after participation.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens
Goal: Given the increased prevalence among youth of obesity and Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in the last 25 years, the goal of Kids N Fitness is to reduce risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome in overweight youth through a family-oriented lifestyle intervention.
Impact: These positive health outcomes indicate that a family-centered lifestyle intervention can improve metabolic health among youth.