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 / Women's Health, Women
Goal: The goal of the BetterU intervention is to increase knowledge of heart disease, increase physical activity, and improve nutrition among women aged 25 years and older.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce public health and safety problems related to U.S. teen & binge drinking in Mexico.
Impact: With IPS leadership, there was a reduction in youth nighttime crashes by 45% and 37% fewer nighttime crossers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: To decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in Boston public schools.
Impact: Data from Boston youth indicated that policy changes restricting the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages in schools can cause significant reductions in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and are promising strategies to reduce adolescents’ intake of unnecessary calories.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Women, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Breast Cancer Fund is to identify and advocate for elimination of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens
Goal: The aims of the BASICS program are 1) to reduce alcohol consumption and its adverse consequences, 2) to promote healthier choices among young adults, and 3) to provide important information and coping skills for risk reduction.
Impact: Students who received a brief individual preventive intervention had significantly greater reductions in negative consequences that persisted over a 4-year period than their control-group counterparts. For those individuals receiving the brief intervention, dependence symptoms were more likely to decrease and less likely to increase.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The goal of BSFT is to improve a youth's behavior problems by improving family interactions that are presumed to be directly related to the child's symptoms, thus reducing risk factors and strengthening protective factors for adolescent drug abuse and other conduct problems.
Impact: Adolescents who participated in BSFT showed a significantly greater reduction in conduct problems than adolescents in the comparison condition, who received a participatory-learning group intervention. BSFT participants also showed a significantly greater reduction in socialized aggression.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Adults, Rural
Goal: The goal of the Cardiovascular Risk Management by Community Pharmacists program is to reduce cardiovascular risk factors through pharmacist provided case management.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of the Caring School Community program is to build classroom and school communities in order to support learning, academic success, positive relationships and character formation.
Impact: After 3 years, CSC students, relative to their comparison school counterparts, showed a greater sense of the school as a caring community, more fondness for school, stronger academic motivation, more frequent reading of books outside of school, a higher sense of efficacy, stronger commitment to democratic values, better conflict-resolution skills, more concern for others, more frequent altruistic behavior, and less use of alcohol.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Cancer Prevention & Control, Client-Oriented Screening Interventions: Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs: Breast Cancer (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women
Goal: The goal of the interventions is to reduce client out-of-pocket costs to minimize or remove economic barriers that make it difficult for clients to access cancer screening services.
Impact: Costs can be reduced through a variety of approaches, including vouchers, reimbursements, reduction in co-pays, or adjustments in federal or state insurance coverage. Efforts to reduce client costs may be combined with client education, information about programs, or measures to reduce barriers.
CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Cancer Prevention & Control, Client-Oriented Screening Interventions: Reducing Out-of-Pocket Costs: Cervical Cancer (USA)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women
Goal: The goal of the interventions is to reduce client out-of-pocket costs to minimize or remove economic barriers that make it difficult for clients to access cancer screening services.
Impact: Consistently favorable results for interventions that reduce costs for breast cancer screening and several other preventive services suggest that such interventions are likely to be effective for increasing cervical cancer screening as well.