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.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of cooperative learning is to establish positive interdependence among students. When positive interdependence is established in group learning situations, the quality of peer interaction improves. Instead of competing with or ignoring one another, students are more likely to promote the success of one another through mutual assistance, emotional support, and the sharing of ideas or resources. These positive social interactions, in turn, encourage greater social acceptance and the development of positive relationships among students and, in educational contexts, promote greater academic motivation and achievement (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 2005). In fact, research on social interaction suggests that gains in social skills alone are insufficient to reduce social problems among students and encourage more positive peer relations. Only positive interdependence, and the subsequent positive social interactions that arise from it, can motivate youth to re-evaluate previous conclusions regarding the social desirability of others (Bierman, 2004).
Impact: Cooperative learning can have positive effects on adolescent bullying, alcohol use, and tobacco use.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children
Goal: The goal of Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) is to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce obesity in preschool, elementary, and middle school aged children.
Impact: CATCH is successful in improving participants' diet and physical activity, and the results lasted three years after participation.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to help children recognize and deal with anxiety.
Impact: Studies have found that participants in the Coping Cat program show significant reductions in anxiety and fear, improvements in ability to cope with dreaded situations, and a reduction in the frequency of negative thoughts during the week.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The goals of this promising practice were to identify the transportation-disadvantaged population that lacks nonemergency medical care because of low access to transportation; determine the medical conditions that this population experiences and describe other characteristics of these individuals, including geography; estimate the cost of providing the transportation necessary for this population to obtain medical transportation according to various transportation service needs and trip modes; estimate the healthcare costs and benefits that would result if these individuals obtained transportation to non-emergency medical care for key healthcare conditions prevalent for this population; and compare the relative costs (from transportation and routine healthcare) and benefits (such as improved quality of life and better managed care, leading to less emergency care) to determine the cost-effectiveness of providing transportation for selected conditions.
Impact: These results show that adding relatively small transportation costs do not make a disease-specific, otherwise cost-effective environment non-cost-effective. Providing increased access to non-emergency medical care does improve quality of life and saves money per patient.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce drug and alcohol use among teenagers.
Impact: Evaluations found significant increases in knowledge and healthy beliefs about alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse by parents. Youth in the program significantly increased their use of community services and delayed onset of ATOD use. Families participating in the program significantly increased youth involvement in setting and following family ATOD rules.
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Adults, Urban
Goal: The mission of Credit Builders Alliance is to help low and moderate income individuals build their credit and access conventional financing.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of Cultivando la Salud is to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among low-income Hispanic women.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease barriers and increase rates for colorectal cancer screening among low-income, non-English speaking patients.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The overall goal of d-up! is to increase the number of black MSM who use a condom when they have sex.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Teens, Families, Rural
Goal: Since late 1996 the Silver Valley Learning Center has been helping students with low reading levels improve literacy and achieve personal educational goals. By offering these services, the Silver Valley Learning Center hopes to enhance self-esteem and motivation for the adults in its community, which can hedge against depression and related problems such as alcohol abuse and domestic violence.