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 Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of HELPS Programs is to strengthen students’ reading fluency so they will be better able to focus on and improve other important reading skills, including comprehension.
Impact: HELPS is a supplemental curriculum that improves students reading fluency, a commonly neglected aspect of children's core reading curriculum, in order to help them become successful readers.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: To educate the Chinese Canadian immigrant community on Hepatitis B knowledge and to promote Hepatitis B testing through ESL curriculum.
Impact: The Chinese immigrant population in North America has a rate of Hepatitis B infection that is 10 times higher than the general population's rate of approximately 0.5 percent. The Hepatitis B ESL curriculum is effective in increasing knowledge about Hepatitis B among Chinese immigrants in Canada.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of Hip-Hop to Health Jr is to reduce gains in BMI in preschool minority children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults
Goal: HIV Big Deal seeks to promote safer sex practices among men who have sex with men via internet-based video drama.
HIV/STD Risk Reduction Interventions for African American and Latino Adolescent Girls (Philadelphia)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of this intervention was to reduce self-reported unprotected sexual intercourse among African American and Latino adolescent girls.
Impact: Skill-based HIV/STD interventions can improve condom-use and reduce sexual risk behaviors, along with STD rates, among African American and Latino teen girls in clinical settings.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban
Goal: The goals of the Holistic Health Recovery Program are to promote health and improve quality of life of injection drug users.
Impact: Implementation of the program resulted in a decrease in addition severity, a decrease in risk behavior, and significant improvement in behavioral skills and quality of life.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families
Goal: HIPPY programs empower parents as primary educators of their children in the home and foster parent involvement in school and community life to maximize the chances of successful early school experiences.
Impact: Through 20 years of research, the HIPPY model has proven to be effective in improving school readiness, parent involvement in students' academic lives, school attendance, classroom behavior, and overall academic performance.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of the HORIZONS program is to reduce sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), particularly HIV, by increasing condom use and partner communication about safer sex.
Impact: The HORIZONS program empowered African American female adolescents to pursue safer sex and reduced the number of STDs among those in the program.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to teach children effective problem-solving skills.
Impact: Studies demonstrated that ICPS participants scored better than the control group on impulsiveness, inhibition, and total behavior problems; showed fewer high-risk behaviors than never-trained controls; showed improvement in positive, prosocial behaviors and decreases in antisocial behaviors; and performed better on standardized achievement tests.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use
Goal: To reduce drug abuse and increase positive mental and physical health outcomes among college students ages 18-25 years old.
Impact: Tailored health and wellness interventions may reduce risk factors facing college students, while perhaps improving their health-related quality of life.