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 / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of Focus on Youth is to teach youth the skills and knowledge they need to protect themselves from HIV and other STDs.
Impact: The Focus on Youth intervention increased self-reported condom use and positively affected perceptions six months after the end of the program.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens
Goal: The mission of Food on the Run is to increase healthful eating and physical activity among teens as a way to improve health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults
Goal: The program aims to prevent the onset of severe hypertension in habitually active mildly hypertensive adults with a 12-week intermittent football-based or endurance running training.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Governance, Children, Urban
Goal: To advocate for children and help them resolve their most pressing legal problem: being in the custody of the state when they need to be in the custody of a family - biological or adoptive - within the 12 months provided by law.
Impact: Children represented by the Foster's Children Project were more likely to exit the foster system to permanency due to higher rates of adoption and long-term custody, but not reunification, than their peers not represented by FCP.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health
Goal: The initiative’s goal is to reduce infant sleep-related deaths by promoting safe sleep environments and SIDS risk reduction techniques among healthcare professionals, childcare providers, and all individuals responsible for caring for infants.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The goal of this program is to provide positive family strengthening resources to youth at risk and in need.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease pregnancy in adolescent and teenage girls.
Impact: Those who participated in one or more program components were significantly less likely to experience pregnancy than nonparticipants (5.9% vs 12.3%). Those who participated in two or more program components were significantly less likely to engage in sexual intercourse without birth control than those who participated in only a single program component (8.9% vs 20.6%).
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults
Goal: The mission of Go Sun Smart is to reduce the risk of skin cancer among ski area employees and, specifically, to reduce the number of sun burns employees incur.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to educate children about health and to prevent substance abuse and violence.
Impact: The Great Body Shop shows that comprehensive substance abuse and violence prevention and health curriculums in schools for elementary and middle school students can improve knowledge, values, thinking skills, and behaviors around substance abuse and violence topic areas.