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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.

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Worcester Area Trial for Counseling in Hyperlipidemia (WATCH) (Massachusetts)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults

Goal: To decrease total and saturated fat intake, serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and body weight.

Impact: The dietitian-delivered intervention effectively improved the care of patients with hyperlipidemia.

YouthBuild McLean County (McLean County, IL)

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

Goal: The McLean County program's mission is "to offer young people a once in a lifetime opportunity to build their futures and their communities through education, leadership development, job training, and the rehabilitation and production of affordable housing, while keeping a profound respect for and a commitment to real partnership with youth."

American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Weather & Climate

Goal: The program aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address global warming on college campuses.

Brevard County Volunteer Dental Clinic (Brevard County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Oral Health

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide timely intervention and oral health service delivery to the stated population in order to reduce impact on local emergency departments and elevate the oral health care of Brevard's low-income citizens.

Chatham County Jail Health Information Exchange

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders

Goal: To have an EMR system that allows medical professionals to correctly diagnose and address the medical needs of incarcerated patients in the emergency room or in the prison system.

Impact: The program has allowed for greater accessibility and sharing of medical data.

Clean Marinas (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of this program is to protect and improve coastal water quality.

Enviro Board: The Colusa Project (Colusa, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The mission of Enviro Board Corporation is to become the world's leading manufacturer of low-cost, environmentally friendly building panels. These durable and architecturally versatile panels will contribute significantly to a healthier environment by recycling agricultural waste, greatly reducing pollution and preserving our natural resources, while creating the ability to construct high-quality, affordable housing worldwide utilizing unskilled labor.

Federal Electronics Challenge (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of the FEC is to empower federal agencies to achieve cost-effective, environmentally responsible electronics management throughout the product life cycle. This goal will be achieved in part by:
- 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.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Vallejo Sanitation and Flood Control District (Vallejo, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: Vallejo Sanitation's goals in 2001 were to seek the most cost effective treatment of wastewater and to find financial rebates/grants where possible to implement cost saving measures. In order to qualify for generator replacement rebates, the agency needed to design and complete the project in a short time.

Four Seasons Hotel Composting Partnership (Philadelphia, PA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of the Four Seasons Hotel Composting Partnership is to reduce the hotel's waste by recycling kitchen scraps with a local composter.

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.