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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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Sustainable Stapleton (Denver, CO)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Economic Climate

Goal: The result of hundreds of community meetings and thousands of volunteer hours, The Green Book describes the three legs, or goals, of sustainability that guide development at Stapleton:

- Economic Opportunity: Develop as a regional center for job creation in diverse fields with an emphasis on new technologies and emerging industries.
- Environmental Responsibility: Demonstrate the economic and community benefits of a long-term commitment to reducing consumption of natural resources and impacts on the natural environment.
- Social Equity: Provide broad access to social, cultural and economic opportunities for all segments of the community.

Warren Village (Denver, CO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Poverty, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to help motivated low-income single-parents move from public assistance to self-sufficiency through affordable housing, quality child care, counselling, education and training.

Be Smart & Seal Them! (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health

Goal: The goal of the Be Smart & Seal Them! program is to provide dental sealants proven to prevent tooth decay to second grade students.

School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce violent tendencies among youth through civic education.

Sun Smart Tips (Denver, CO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer

Goal: The goal of this campaign was to educate park visitors about the need to protect themselves from the damaging rays of the sun and how best to prevent skin cancer.

The Youthnet Trials (Denver, CO)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of the progarm is to use online-based modules to promote protected sex and prevent HIV transmission among teens.

Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) and Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) (Illinois)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach is to help adolescents recover from alcohol and drug addiction.

Impact: Results from studies on this treatment program demonstrate that there can be superior engagement, retention, and short-term substance use outcomes for those in the A-CRA and ACC approaches compared to UCC. The ACC protocol can also result in significantly more patients linking to continuing care.

Behavioral Couples Therapy for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (BCT)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The goal of Behavioral Couples Therapy for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse is to improve success rates for treatment of alcoholism and drug abuse by involving intimate partners in the treatment process.

Impact: Numerous studies of the program have shown positive outcomes in five areas: substance abuse, quality of relationship with partner, treatment compliance, intimate partner violence, and children's psychosocial functioning. BCT clients also reported more relationship satisfaction than non-participants.

Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention of College Students (BASICS) (Seattle, WA)

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.

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.