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 Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of Planet Health is to reduce childhood obesity among middle school students using a school-based interdisciplinary intervention focused on decreasing television viewing and consumption of high-fat foods, and increasing fruit and vegetable intake and moderate and vigorous physical activity.
Impact: These results cumulatively show that Planet Health and similar programs can reduce obesity and increase healthy food consumption in girls. They also show that a finding of a reduction in number of hours watching TV for girls can also predict reduction in obesity.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Prevention Care Management program is to increase cancer screening among women.
Impact: Prevention Care Management increased mammography rates, cervical cancer screening rates, and colorectal cancer screening rates among participating women.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goals of this program are to detect school adjustment difficulties, prevent social and emotional problems, and enhance learning skills of children in kindergarten through third grade.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Rural
Goal: The goal of this program is to help at-risk youth and young adults to finish high school, take college-level classes, and have structured work experiences that will lead to successful transitions to adulthood.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to help families gain or increase parenting and family management skills that would facilitate successful child academic and social adjustment and, therefore, to promote social and academic competence and to lower risk for later antisocial behavior. In addition, the intervention concentrates on promoting initial academic success.
Impact: Children who received the intervention improved in overall reading ability at a more rapid rate than those who did not receive the intervention. In addition, SAFEChildren participants showed an improvement in concentration.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children
Goal: Schools of Hope aims to increase third-grade reading proficiency to 75% by 2015 and 90% by 2020.
Impact: Students tutored through Schools of Hope have an increased reading proficiency compared to other students.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens
Goal: The goal of this intervention was to enhance protective factors associated with reducing suicide among high school students.
Impact: The Sources of Strength program was successful in increasing students likelihood of seeking help from an adult at school, as well as those adults ability to help suicidal students.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of SPARK is to promote physical activity among youth through school-based programs.
Impact: A health-related physical education curriculum can significantly increase physical activity for students in physical education classes.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of the program is to decrease school bullying problems by 1) increasing staff awareness and responsiveness, 2) fostering socially responsible beliefs, and 3) teaching social-emotional skills to counter bullying and promote healthy relationships. Thus the program also aims to promote skills (e.g., group joining, conflict resolution) associated with general social competence.
Impact: Students in the intervention schools reported significantly less acceptance of bullying/aggression, perceived greater adult responsiveness, and felt more responsible to intervene with friends who were bullied (bystander responsibility) than students in the control schools.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of Students for Nutrition and Exercise is to encourage healthy eating and daily physical activity in middle school students.
Impact: The SNaX program shows that programs which train peer advocates to encourage healthy eating and daily physical activity in students can serve to benefit those trained as peer advocates after the intervention.