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 Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The goals of this promising practice were to identify the transportation-disadvantaged population that lacks nonemergency medical care because of low access to transportation; determine the medical conditions that this population experiences and describe other characteristics of these individuals, including geography; estimate the cost of providing the transportation necessary for this population to obtain medical transportation according to various transportation service needs and trip modes; estimate the healthcare costs and benefits that would result if these individuals obtained transportation to non-emergency medical care for key healthcare conditions prevalent for this population; and compare the relative costs (from transportation and routine healthcare) and benefits (such as improved quality of life and better managed care, leading to less emergency care) to determine the cost-effectiveness of providing transportation for selected conditions.
Impact: These results show that adding relatively small transportation costs do not make a disease-specific, otherwise cost-effective environment non-cost-effective. Providing increased access to non-emergency medical care does improve quality of life and saves money per patient.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent suicide and reduce depression among high-school students.
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 / 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 Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: The goal of DfE is to facilitate the identification, adoption and innovation of clean products, processes, technologies, and management systems.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The objectives of the program were to educate students, parents, and school staff about asthma management and to control exposure to factors that trigger asthma attacks.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Children, Teens, Rural
Goal: The goal of DETS project is to increase the understanding and awareness of diabetes among American Indian and Native Alaskan students in kindergarten through high school through a combination of science lesson and traditional value.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of the Diabetes-Based Science Education for Tribal Schools (DETS) curriculum is to slow or reverse the rising rate of type 2 diabetes in American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) youth through a pedagogy based in a combination of a science-based diabetes/health education curriculum and culturally relevant contexts.
Impact: Overall, the DETS curriculum shows that collaboratively-developed curriculums and education courses can have an effective impact across grade levels with students having significant knowledge gains, and can also serve as a supplement for other science and social science curriculums in schools.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The goal of Dialectical Behavior Therapy is to use a cognitive-behavioral treatment approach to treat patients with multiple disorders.
Impact: After 1 year of treatment, a smaller percentage of DBT participants reported suicide attempts compared with TBE patients. DBT also reduced Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) behavior over the course of 1-year treatment.
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.