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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.

Practices that were submitted by local partners are listed first and will have a green box below them that indicates they are local. Users can also use the search features to find promising practices from across the country.

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Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP) (Rochester, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The program's five main goals are to (1) foster a safe, supportive group environment; (2) facilitate the identification and expression of divorce-related feelings; (3) promote understanding of divorce-related concepts and clarify misconceptions; (4) teach effective coping and interpersonal skills; and (5) enhance positive perceptions of self and family.

Choosing Life: Empowerment, Actions, Results (CLEAR) (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the CLEAR intervention is to empower HIV-positive youth to reduce risk behaviors and improve mental and physical health.

Cognitive Relaxation Coping Skills (Fort Collins, CO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide students with skills that can be used for understanding and controlling their emotions.

Colorectal Cancer Screening Intervention for Veterans (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program was to increase colorectal cancer screening recommendations and completion rates at a Veterans Affairs medical center.

Impact: Veterans Affairs (VA) patients in the intervention group received more recommendations for colorectal cancer screening and completed more screening tests compared to those in the control group.

Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to strategically connect resources in schools in order to help young people learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.

Community Outreach Addictions Team

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults

Goal: To reduce the number of heroin overdose deaths in the community and to provide immediate peer support to those in crisis.

Impact: COAT peers counselors are able to provide immediate response and support to help individuals achieve long-term recovery.

Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) (formerly the Coronary Health Improvement Project) (Rockford, IL)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: The goal of the CHIP lifestyle intervention is to lower blood cholesterol, hypertension, and blood sugar levels and reduce excess weight.

Impact: CHIP has over 55,000 graduates worldwide and sustains adherence to the program guidelines through an active "ClubCHIP" member support organization.

Connecting Partners through the Community Information Exchange (San Diego, CA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: Improve care coordination for vulnerable patients through an online platform.

Impact: Among clients enrolled in the CIE, participants experienced a reduced number of emergency medical services trips and increased stable housing rates.

Connections (Clark County, WA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to address the needs of juvenile offenders with emotional and behavioral disorders and their families.

Coping with Stress Course (Portland, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent depression and other mood disorders in adolescents.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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