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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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School-Based Asthma Therapy (Rochester, NY)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The objective of this study was to examine the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of the School-Based Asthma Therapy (SBAT) program compared with usual care.

Impact: School-Based Asthma Therapy resulted in 158 symptom-free days per month per 100 children and a cost-effectiveness of $10 per symptom-free day.

Seeking Safety

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders

Goal: The goal of this program is to help clients move beyond trauma and substance abuse.

Impact: Multiple evaluations of the Seeking Safety program in various settings have shown positive outcomes for substance abuse/addiction, substance abuse disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

SF Health Code Article 38: Enhanced Ventilation for Urban Sensitive Use Development (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The purpose of SF Health Code Article 38 is to protect residents from the effects of living in a poor air quality zone by requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings.

Impact: The City of San Francisco implemented a law requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings to protect residents from harmful particulate matter.

Shape Up SF (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Shape Up SF aims to reduce health disparities by creating healthy eating and active living environments and improving physical activity and nutrition.

Impact: Shape Up SF implemented Safe Routes to School, Bayview HEAL Zone, PE4SF, Rethink Your Drink, Southeast Food Access (SEFA) Working Group, SEFA Food Guardians, and Walking Challenge, and increased physical activity and access to healthy foods in San Francisco.

Smart Growth (Maryland)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: Smart Growth has three straightforward goals:
- to save our most valuable remaining natural resources before they are forever lost,
- to support existing communities and neighborhoods by targeting state resources to support development in areas where the infrastructure is already in place or planned to support it, and
- to save taxpayers millions of dollars in the unnecessary cost of building the infrastructure required to support sprawl.

Student Talking About Non-violent Dating (STAND) (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to provide education, support, and training to middle and high school students in San Francisco on how to address sexual violence.

Tai Chi -- Moving for Better Balance

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: To use tai chi exercise to improve balance and decrease incidence of falls among older adults.

Impact: The program shows that ta chi can significantly improve health-related outcome measures in older adults and such a program can be practically and effectively implemented and maintained in community settings.

Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative (TEEI) (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Urban

Goal: To help members of the San Francisco bay area transgender community to secure stable employment in safe environments.

Tribal Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention Programs (Arizona and Wisconsin)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of tribal motor vehicle injury prevention programs is to reduce disparities in rates of motor vehicle-related injuries and deaths.

Impact: Projects to increase motor vehicle safety on tribal reservations increased seat belt use among drivers, increased use of child safety seats, and decreased motor vehicle crashes.

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.