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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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(2006 results)

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Health Plan of San Mateo Housing Supports Pilot (San Mateo County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program was to target the housing support needs of its members with the objective of reducing institutionalization, improving quality of life, and reducing total costs of care.

Impact: The large majority of participants surveyed indicated that their quality of life was maintained or increased during the pilot and that they were satisfied with the program.

Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren (HOPS) (Osceola)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: The goal of the HOPS program was to improve overall health status and academic achievement using replicable strategies.

Impact: The HOPS intervention helped students who qualified for free or reduced price meals both stay within the normal BMI percentile and score higher on their state math achievement test.

Healthy Buddies (Canada)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of Healthy Buddies is to increase health knowledge, health behaviors, and health attitudes in children in elementary school.

Healthy Eating, Active Communities (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Healthy Eating, Active Communities (HEAC) aims to fight the growing childhood obesity epidemic in California and to develop state policy changes that will reduce the risk factors for diabetes and obesity.

Healthy Families New York (New York)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The goals of HFNY are to promote positive parent-child interaction; to ensure optimal pre-natal care; to promote healthy childhood growth and development; and to enhance family functioning.

Impact: Mothers participating in the HFNY study were significantly less likely to deliver low-birth-weight babies than mothers in the control group (3.3% vs 8.3%). HFNY parents also reported having engaged in significantly fewer acts of serious abuse and neglect.

Healthy Food Environments (North Carolina)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults

Goal: The goal of Healthy Food Environments is to increase availability, visibility, and affordability of healthy foods and beverages for employees, volunteers, and visitors on hospital campuses.

Healthy for Life (Orange )

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

Goal: Healthy For Life is school and community-based intervention program that promotes proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits in order to reduce childhood obesity in Orange County, CA.

Healthy Generations Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Children, Teens, Families

Goal: The program aims to provide comprehensive, family-centered health care for adolescent parents and their children.

Healthy Habits (Washington)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Women, Families

Goal: Healthy Habits was designed to enhance the capacity of local WIC programs and partner agencies to promote healthy lifestyles in families with young children.

Healthy Hawks (Kansas City, Kansas)

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

Goal: The program aims to reduce childhood obesity by using a three-stage approach to identifying root causes of the issue, developing and implementing behavioral strategies for weight management, and involving both the children and their families in adopting a healthy lifestyle.

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.