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, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: Reduce hospital/nursing home readmissions and improve care for older adults.
Impact: Reduced 30-day readmission rate from 18.2 to 8.9 percent over the course of 2 years, resulting in estimated savings of more than $17 million through 1,804 avoided readmissions.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Tobacco Use
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends community mobilization combined with additional interventions such as stronger local laws directed at retailers, active enforcement of retailer sales laws, and retailer education with reinforcement on the basis of sufficient evidence of effectiveness in reducing youth tobacco use and access to tobacco products from commercial sources.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of tribal motor vehicle injury prevention programs is to reduce disparities in rates of motor vehicle-related injuries and deaths.
Impact: Projects to increase motor vehicle safety on tribal reservations increased seat belt use among drivers, increased use of child safety seats, and decreased motor vehicle crashes.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families
Goal: Triple P aims to prevent maltreatment and behavioral, emotional and developmental problems in children by strenghtening the knowledge, skills and confidence of parents.
Impact: The program found a 25-35% reduction in child maltreatment, child maltreatment related hospitalizations and injuries, and foster home placements of children for young children at two-year followup of the program.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of the TACOS program was to use an environmental intervention to increase the availability and consumption of lower-fat foods in a la carte areas of secondary school cafeterias.
Impact: The TACOS program successfully increased both the availability and sale of lower-fat foods in a la carte areas of secondary school cafeterias.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends home visits to increase vaccination rates in children and adults. The CPSTF notes, however, that economic evidence shows home visits can be resource-intensive and costly relative to other options.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends interventions that reduce client out-of-pocket costs used alone or combined with additional interventions to increase vaccination rates among people of all ages in a range of settings and populations. This includes interventions for individual clinical settings, statewide programs, or national efforts.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Goal: Vaccination programs in WIC settings include the following:
-Assessment of infants’ and children’s immunization status
-On-site vaccinations or referral to vaccination providers
-Additional interventions such as client reminder and recall systems, manual tracking and outreach efforts, or adoption of monthly voucher pickup schedules that require more WIC visits when vaccinations are not up-to-date
Vaccination services may be provided in WIC clinics, or through collocation and coordination of WIC programs with other healthcare services.
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends vaccination programs in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) settings—when used with additional components--to increase vaccination rates among children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends standing orders for vaccinations—when used alone or when combined with additional interventions—to increase vaccination rates among adults and children from different populations or settings.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse
Goal: The program aims to reduce the frequency and the severity of recidivism
for violent injury and criminal activity among persons
living in and around Baltimore.
Impact: Participants of the Violence Intervention Program saw a decrease in repeat hospitalizations, a decrease in violent crime and a higher rate of employment compared to those not in the program.