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 Local, Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to provide police departments, schools and others with Naloxone and proper training to save lives from heroin overdose and to provide individuals with a chance to recover.
Impact: In the first six months of the second year, 26 saves were recorded.
Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: The goals of Engage DuPage include improving the health status of self-pay Emergency Department patients, increasing the revenue appropriately owed to hospitals for services rendered, improving the financial assistance processes involving self-pay Emergency Department patients, and reducing the number of avoidable Emergency Department visits among self-pay patients.
Impact: By the end of 2014, 57% of all benefit applications that were submitted were approved. In addition, 29% of all interested patients were connected to a primary care provider through a Community Access Specialist.
Filed under Local, Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The mission of the Wheaton/Warrenville Early Childhood Collaborative is to effectively coordinate services focused on providing opportunities for learning success and improved Kindergarten readiness for all Community Unit School District 200 children birth to five, especially those most vulnerable.
The 4 goals of the WWECC are:
1. Improve communication among early childhood service providers though implementation of collaborative partner and sub-committee meetings.
2. Increase parent education about childhood development needs.
3. Increase professional development for early childhood service providers.
4. Increase children's Kindergarten/school readiness.
Impact: This targeted program can have a strong impact, as research shows that 85% of brain development occurs by age 5 and that high-quality early care and education experiences lead to lower drop-out rates, lower rates of becoming a teen parent, and lower rates of participation in special education.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of Adolescents Living Safely is to prevent HIV infection and AIDS among runaway adolescents.
Impact: Adolescents Living Safely changes youth sexual behavior to reduce transmission of HIV among runaways.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to teach parents/caregivers effective parenting skills, create a support system for their children, and equip participants with non-violent techniques to encourage a safe environment at home and in the community.
Impact: ACT program has been shown to prevent child maltreatment and promote positive parenting skills, including reducing physical violence towards children, improving knowledge of appropriate discipline, and improving parent methods for teaching children nonviolent social skills.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of Advancing Diabetes Self Management at La Clinica de La Raza was to improve health outcomes of those suffering from type 2 diabetes.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: ASSIST aims to develop a diverse group consisting of young people that will then influence their peers to defy the idea of smoking thus reducing the number of adolescent smokers and reducing its health effects.
Impact: A peer-led intervention reduced smoking among adolescents at a modest cost: the ASSIST program cost of £32 ($42 USD) (95% CI = £29.70–£33.80) per student. The incremental cost per student not smoking at 2 years was £1,500 ($1984 USD) (95% CI = £669–£9,947).
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program was to provide a multi-layered asthma management program for parents, children, and staff of early childhood centers.
Impact: The ABC program demonstrates that a multi-layered approach can improve asthma outcomes among preschoolers with a combination of parent and provider education having the greatest impact.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: To improve drinking water consumption among adolescents.
Impact: This study shows that provision of filtered, chilled drinking water in school cafeterias coupled with promotion and education is associated with increased consumption of drinking water at school.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Baltimore Needle Exchange Program is to reduce HIV, hepatitis, and other infections by reducing the use of unclean needles and to help individuals overcome substance abuse by connecting them to harm reduction services and drug treatment programs. The experimental case manager intervention program at the Baltimore NEP looked to increase the percentage of intravenous drug users who enrolled in city sponsored substance abuse programs following referral at the Baltimore NEP sites.
Impact: The intervention program through Baltimore NEP was effective in increasing entry of intravenous drug users into drug drug treatment programs and highlights the need for more accessible treatment programs and harm-reduction services, such as mobile treatment facilities.