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, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Families
Goal: The goal of MDFT is to reduce adolescent drug abuse and increase self-efficacy in the teen population.
Impact: Systematic reviews comparing the effective of adolescent drug use interventions across studies found that MDFT reduces substance use, delinquency, behavior problems, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The program has also been found to improve educational performance.
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 Local, Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goals of Peace Works are to (1) promote students' prosocial behavior through the use of conflict resolution; (2) enhance school climate through caring and support; (3) teach parents constructive problem solving and anger management; and (4) improve parents' positive affiliation with school.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Urban
Goal: The mission of the RHAP is to protect the health of the general population and to improve the health status of refugees so they may achieve self-sufficiency.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults
Goal: The goal of Sugar Smart for Life is to reduce the rate of diabetes in our community by empowering those with prediabetes to make lifestyle changes that may prevent or delay onset of the disease.
Impact: These findings suggest that this technology-based intervention is well-received by patients at high-risk for developing diabetes in terms of satisfaction, delivering appropriate health education, and supporting and encouraging positive health behavior changes.
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 Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to divert young first-time offenders from court into a restorative justice process in which the offender and victim negotiate a satisfactory solution.