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.
Environmental Improvements Brought by the Legal Interventions in the Homes of Poorly Controlled Inner-City Adult Asthmatic Patients (New York City, New York)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Urban
The goal is to use a medical-legal collaborative intervention to force landlords into maintaining healthy living conditions for residents with poorly controlled asthma.
This proof-of concept study exhibits that medical-legal collaboration can significantly impact the control of inner-city asthmatics by improving their domestic environment.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
- Promoting ENERGY STAR® features.
- Extending the life span of equipment.
- Increasing the recovery rate and expanding the recycling infrastructure for electronics.
- Utilizing the concept of supply and demand to promote environmentally preferable electronic equipment.
- Reducing the volume and toxicity of electronic equipment waste.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability
-assist lowincome customers,
-reduce energy use at city facilities and
-coordinate action between the city and its largest electric customers to implement emergency demand reduction/ load-shedding programs.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The goal of the FoCaS Project is to improve breast and cervical cancer screening participation among low-income women.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
The goal of this program is to increase provider recommendation and patient compliance with colorectal cancer screening at a federally qualified health center serving low-income patients.
The intervention appears to be a feasible means to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among patients served by community health centers. However, more attention to patient decision making and education may be needed to further increase screening rates.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Urban
The goal is to help prepare communities for earthquakes, fires, floods, terrorism, and other natural and man-made disasters.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults
To assess whether an Individualized Management for Patient-Centered Targets (IMPaCT), delivered by community health workers improved patients' chronic disease management and self-rated physical and mental health.
Individuals with multiple chronic conditions when paired with a community health worker will perceive that their care is higher quality and may have fewer hospitalizations.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Children, Teens, Urban
The goal of the Safe Routes to School program is to improve safety and encourage more children to safely walk and bicycle to school. In addition, the programs work toward reducing traffic congestion and improving health and the environment.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Urban
The mission of MOMS Orange County is to help mothers and their families have healthy babies by providing health coordination, education, and access to community services. MOMS Orange County’s vision is that all babies born in Orange County are healthy at birth.
Measures such as the percent of babies born at a low birth weight, percent of babies born premature, and the percent of babies admitted to the NICU were all markedly better for program participants when compared to many comparison benchmarks.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban
The goal of Parent Connext is to support parents in reducing and/or preventing toxic stress in the family and help children develop critical life skills and coping skills. Recent studies have found that up to 50% of health outcomes are attributable to social and economic factors and that lifetime costs associated with child maltreatment are comparable to other costly healthcare conditions such as stroke or type 2 diabetes. Moreover, 4 in 5 physicians report lacking confidence in their ability to meet patients’ social needs, which can impede their ability to provide high quality medical care. As a result, interventions that target parents’ social needs may have important implications for reducing healthcare costs and have the added benefit of enabling physicians to provide high-quality care to their patients.