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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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Hep Free Hawai'i (Hawai'i)

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Hep Free Hawai'i is to offer hepatitis vaccinations, encourage Hawaiians to learn of their hepatitis status through testing, and connect individuals with hepatitis or liver disease to medical resources and support groups.

Strengthening Families Program/Strengthening Hawaii Families (Hawaii)

Local

Filed under Local, Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The program aims to reduce substance abuse risk factors and improve relationships in high-risk families.

Imua Project (Honolulu, HI)

Local

Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Health / Disabilities, Children

Goal: The goal of the Imua Project is to support youth with disabilities transition from high school to employment or higher education.

Smoking?...Not in Mama's House! (Kauai District, HI)

Local

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent children's exposure to secondhand smoke.

Tai Chi with Paukukalo Kupuna (Wailuku, HI)

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to provide seniors a form of movement that will enhance their confidence and balance in daily activities.

Hawaii Child Asthma Research to Elevate Standards (Hawaii CARES) (Honolulu, HI)

Local

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of Hawaii CARES is to bring the way asthma is treated in the state up to compliance with national guidelines.

Mailed Psychoeducational Intervention for Colorectal Cancer Screening (England)

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.

Home Again: A Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County (Portland and Multnomah County, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to end homelessness in the City of Portland and Multnomah County by 2015. As efforts to end homelessness continue, city and county officials will focus on nine actions. Programs throughout the county will address moving people into Housing First, ending the practice of discharging people into homelessness from jails and hospitals, improving outreach, emphasizing permanent solutions, increasing the housing supply, creating new partnerships, improving the rent assistance system, increasing economic opportunity for homeless people and implementing new data collection technology.

Open Meadow Alternative School (Portland, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens

Goal: The goals of the Open Meadow program are 1) to re-engage high risk youth so they will complete their education; and 2) to connect high risk youth to their community in a positive way.

Kartini Clinic (Portland, OR)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The overriding treatment goal of Kartini Clinic is to secure lasting remission of eating disorder symptoms, allowing patients and their families to return to their own communities. Using a holistic approach, embracing medical as well as psychological and social interventions, patients are treated with the belief that parents do not cause eating disorders and children do not choose to have them.

Impact: Since 1998, Kartini Clinic has treated more than 2,000 patients and their families for a range of eating disorders.

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.