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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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The Bright Beginnings Infant Mortality Reduction Program (Prince George's County, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Bright Beginnings seeks to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes among Prince George's low-income, medically underserved women and children.

Impact: Bright Beginnings has provided services to thousands of women to help reduce infant mortality and prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes. The program has been noted as a promising practice by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene since 2010.

The CARES Program (Buffalo, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the CARES program is to decrease barriers and improve access to dental care.

The Community Dental Facilitator Project (Vancouver, British Columbia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the Community Dental Facilitator Project is to facilitate access to oral health services among low income, urban children.

The Developmentally Supportive Care: Newborn Individualized Developmental Care & Assessment Program (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of NIDCAP is to maximize physical, mental, and emotional growth, health, and other positive outcomes for infants in NICUs.

The Eyes Have It (New Orleans and Baton Rouge)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of The Eyes Have It is to provide free vision screening, examinations and free or discounted eyeglasses to children in Baton Rouge and New Orleans schools.

The Greene Community Health Foundation (Greene County, OH)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The mission of the Greene Community Health Foundation is to 1. help assist underserved GCCHD clients with funding for medical needs, 2. find avenues of funding for clients, 3. develop partnerships with providers for reduced charges for clients, 4. develop community partnerships to strengthen programs and projects at GCCHD, and 5. develop state and national partnerships to strengthen the programs and projects at GCCHD.

The INC Well (Kansas City, MO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The INC Well's goal is to improve upon the built and social environment to establish a health and wellness supportive presence for those who are taking a proactive role in their quality of life.

Impact: The INC Well created a dedicated space where people can utilize health resources and take their wellness into their own hands.

The Internet-based Successful Aging (iSAGE) project

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: As medicine becomes more complex and specialized by the minute, the communication gulf between doctors and their patients is becoming progressively insurmountable. The Stanford Internet-based Successful aging (iSAGE) project is a project aimed at improving quality of life and quality of care for all older Americans from diverse backgrounds. iSAGE offers an entirely web-based, video rich immersion training in the principles of successful aging for the general public as well as health workers. It is unique in that it allows learners to specialize in the health and health care of thirteen different ethno-cultural groups commonly seen in the US.

The Maine Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Program (Maine)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in Maine.

The Medical University of South Carolina Psychiatry Residency Diversity Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The MUSC Psychiatry Residency program has the following goals related to diversification of the health care professional pool:
- increased racial and ethnic diversity reflecting the general South Carolina population
- promotion of racial/ethnic and gender diversity in leadership positions within the School of Medicine
- promotion of cultural competency and understanding
- more opportunities within the College of Medicine at all levels for individuals from all backgrounds

Impact: The proportion of URM applicants to MUSC psychiatry residencies increased from 8% in 2008 to 17% in 2015. The percentage of URM psychiatry residents enrolled in MUSC has tripled over the last seven years, from 9% in 2008 to 28% in 2015.

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.